Bold BiomedicalEndeavors:The New ERCNSF Awards AnotherEngineering ResearchCenter

Spanish 101Engineering StudentsExplore Europe

AggressiveRecruiting:26 New Faces Amongthe Faculty

Cultivatingthe Future

Bold BiomedicalEndeavors:The New ERCNSF Awards AnotherEngineering ResearchCenter

Spanish 101Engineering StudentsExplore Europe

AggressiveRecruiting:26 New Faces Amongthe Faculty

Fall/Winter 2003

Published by the University of Southern California Volume 2 Issue 1

Cultivatingthe Future

Mary & Mark StevensProviding Leadershipfor Engineering’sFundraising Initiative

An annuity to The School of Engineering will provide:

Guaranteed Income A guaranteed income stream for your life (and one additional life, if desired)

Tax Benefits Annuities offer partially tax free income, a charitable taxdeduction, and lower estate taxes

Philanthropic Opportunity Your annuity can support scholarship and research at The School of Engineering

Safety Annuity agreements are backed by the full faith and credit of the University of Southern California

Flexibility Gift annuities may be created with cash, securities, or real estate

Payout rates are based on age. Here are three examples:

A gift annuity will provide you with a guaranteed income stream for life whilealso helping to secure the future of theUSC School of Engineering.

It’s how to give as good as you get.Sam MartinuzziDirector of Planned Giving(213) 740-1214www.usc.edu/plannedgiving

All inquiries are kept in strict confidence.

*Sample based on rate schedule as of 7/1/03. Rates are set by the AmericanCouncil for Gift Annuities

Age Guaranteed Annual Payout*

75 7.1%82 8.5%

Couple, ages 75 and 82 6.6%

p26page 3 Dean’s Message

page 4 Editor’s Note

page 5 Straight & To the PointShort Subjects

page 36 Alumni ProfileBruce Matthews, BSISE ’83

page 37 Alumni ProfileElmer Kaprielian, BSEE ’42

page 38 Alumni ProfileAl Griffin, BSCE ’45

page 40 SnapshotsLate Summer & Fall 2003 Events

page 44 Class Notes

page 45 BoC News

page 46 In Memoriam

page 48 Development Focus

ifeatures

in this ssue

departments

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Engineering students

are in danger of

spending so much time

solving problems in class

and fulfilling mandatory

requirements that they

can miss learning about the real joys that an engineering

career offers. The American Institute of Aeronautics and

Astronautics contest shows them a side of engineering that

closely resembles what real working engineers do.

page 22 Cultivating the FutureMark Stevens, BSEE ’81, MS CENG ’84, Co-Chairs Engineering’s Fundraising Initiative

by Bob Calverley

page 26 Bold Biomedical Endeavors: The New ERCNational Science Foundation Awards Another Engineering Research Center

by Bob Calverley

page 28 Aggressive Recruiting: 26New Faces Among the Facultyby Carl Marziali

page 32 Spanish 101Engineering Students Explore Europe

by Christian Camozzi

page 34 Rock and Roll Engineeringby Eric Mankin

p28

p22

p19

Corp/Fnd Cash & EquipCompanies

Acorn Technologies, Inc.The Aerospace CorporationAgilent TechnologiesAirbusAir Force Cost Analysis AgencyALi CorporationAmerican Chemical SocietyThe American Electroplaters and

Surface Finishers Society, Inc.American Heart AssociationARCS Foundation, Inc.Asociacion Sindical de PilotosAssociation for Network

Care Research ATR Human Information

Processing ResearchLaboratories

BAE SYSTEMSBEI Technologies, Inc.Bio-Rad LaboratoriesThe Boeing CompanyCedars-Sinai Medical CenterCenter for Breakthrough

Thinking, Inc. CERNCharles Lee Powell FoundationChevronTexaco Cisco Systems Inc.Civil Aviation AuthorityConexant Systems, Inc.Conlin & Associates Inc.Consortium of Organizations

for Strong-MotionObservation Systems

Corporation for Advancedand Technical Education

Corporation for EducationNetwork

Cytec Engineered Materials Inc. DaimlerChryslerDefense Information Systems

AgencyDeloitte & Touche FoundationDelphi Automotive SystemsDIRECTV Inc.DisCo SystemsDoCoMo USA, Inc.The Dow Chemical CompanyDRS Technologies, Inc.Dynamic Measures CorporationECA FoundationEkswai CorporationElectrical Power

Research Institute Electronics and

TelecommunicationsResearch Institute

Entergy CorporationERC IncorporatedErnst & YoungEverFocus Electronics Corp.Extended SystemsExxonMobil FoundationFujitsu Laboratories

of America, Inc.The Fulton FoundationFx Palo Alto LaboratoryGC Environmental, Inc.Geometrix, Inc.Global Quest Foundation

Hamilton Klow AssociatesHewlett-Packard CorporationHoneywell International, Inc. House Ear InstituteIBM CorporationIndustrial Technology

Research InstituteInstitute for Information IndustryIntel CorporationInternational Technology

ExchangeITU Ventures LLC.IxiaJapan Science & Technology

CorporationJDS Uniphase CorporationJewish Community FoundationL’Garde, Inc.Lockheed Martin CorporationThe Los Angeles Rubber GroupMercury Interactive

CorporationThe Merwyn C. Gill

FoundationMicrosoft CorporationMinistry of HousingMotorola, Inc.National Institute

of Public HealthNAVAIRNew Media University

Academy, Inc.Nortel NetworksNorthrop Grumman CorporationNovalux Inc.Oceaneering International, Inc.

The Okawa FoundationOlympus America Inc.Oracle CorporationPhaethon Communications, Inc.Pratt & Whitney QUALCOMM Inc.R & R Rubber Molding, Inc.Raytheon CompanyRockwell ScientificSaabSAE International Satyam Computer Services Ltd.SchlumbergerScience Applications

International CorporationSemiconductor Research

CorporationSGI Testing Services, LLCShell Oil Company FoundationSkyworks Solutions, Inc. Sony Corporation Sparkasse BochumSun Microsystems, Inc.TCL Integrated Marketing, Inc.TeleGIF Texas InstrumentsToray Composites America, Inc.Toyota USA FoundationToyota Motor CorporationVeeco Metrology GroupVerizon Communications, Inc.The Whitaker FoundationXerox CorporationXilinx, Inc.

The USC School of Engineering thanks the following

corporations, foundations and organizations for their

recent gifts. Their generosity is crucial to

the success of our students and faculty

as they pursue scientificand academic

excellence.

For more information on how your firmcan help to shape the engineers of tomorrow,please contact:

Anna NorvilleExecutive Director of Corporate Relations USC School of EngineeringTel: 213/740-2502E-mail: norville@usc.edu

mdean’s essage

USC ENGINEER Vol. 2 No. 1 Fall/Winter 2003/4

These are sunny days for the

USC School of Engineering.

C. L. Max NikiasDeanSchool of Engineering

Sunny Days

Nik

ias

phot

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Max

S.G

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Our School has just received its second National Science Foundation

Engineering Research Center (ERC), making us only the fourth

engineering school to have two active concurrent ERCs, and

the only California school ever to be awarded two of these

prestigious centers.

During the past two years, at a time when many other

institutions were downsizing or in a holding pattern, we have

recruited 26 new tenure-track faculty. We placed a special emphasis

on women and minority candidates making 15 offers, five of which

were accepted.

Last fall’s undergraduate freshman class was the brightest in the

history of our School, and the quality of this fall’s freshman is just as

high. And of course, U.S. News & World Report has ranked our

graduate engineering program solidly in the nation’s top 10 at

number 8.

The most gratifying aspect of this success is that so many

people share in it. That only makes it sweeter.

Securing the new ERC was a huge joint effort between our

School and the Keck School of Medicine. This accomplishment was

the result of close collaboration between myself and Keck’s dean,

Stephen J. Ryan. The new director of the BioMimetic

MicroElectronics Systems (BMES) ERC is Mark Humayun, who is

both a professor of ophthalmology at Keck, and a professor of

biomedical engineering in our School. The deputy director is

Gerald Loeb, a professor of biomedical engineering.

Designing and building implantable microelectronic devices is

as much a medical as an engineering challenge, requiring creativity

from both physicians and engineers.

Engineers from Caltech and UC-Santa Cruz are also important

participants in the BMES. Our faculty is one of the finest in the

world, but that doesn’t mean they are the best in every single area of

engineering. We don’t hesitate to work with others.

More and more, research has become a collaborative endeavor.

Working together, researchers make more impressive leaps than any

of them could accomplish alone. Often the advances are in new

territory and are not part of any traditional discipline. Encouraging

interdisciplinary research is nothing new. However, it is a reflection

of Engineering’s and USC’s interdisciplinary successes that NSF

chose us for this new and highly interdisciplinary ERC.

Recruiting new faculty for today’s collaborative research

environment is itself an exercise in partnership. I worked together

with Joseph Aoun, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,

to bring one of the world’s premier supercomputing research groups

to USC. Rajiv Kalia, Aichiro Nakano and Priya Vashista. The

principals of that group, all have joint faculty appointments in the

College and our School. I doubt that either Joseph or I could have

accomplished this alone. I doubt that our School would have 26

new faculty without the commitment of our current faculty in

identifying candidates and helping persuade them to come here.

We are in the process of transforming our undergraduate

curriculum to prepare young engineers for the newly collaborative

engineering world. We are making it easier for undergraduates to

have minors or another major outside of engineering.

I believe our School is poised to make the jump into the

nation’s elite engineering schools. About the time you receive this

magazine, I will be announcing a new seven-year fundraising

initiative to secure the resources we will need to succeed. Because

of our recent successes, our fundraising goals will be very ambitious.

Mark Stevens (BSEE ’81, BAECON ’81, MSCENG ’84) and

Daniel Epstein (BSISE ’62), two USC trustees and members of our

Board of Councilors have agreed to chair this effort, and it will take

all of us working together to succeed. Our entire Board of

Councilors, our faculty and our staff will be involved. We want all of

you — friends, alumni and industry partners — to be involved too.

When we raise these resources, and when the USC School of

Engineering joins that elite group of the very best engineering

schools, the success will belong to all of us.

If we work together, I am confident that we will succeed.

The dictionary defines the word “destination” as: the

place to which one is going or directed; or the ultimate

purpose for which something is created or intended.

On November 21st, the School of Engineering will

launch a new fundraising initiative. The initiative has been

themed “Destination: The Future”. A metaphor of travel is

used to imply a sense of the School’s movement and forward

direction.

The dictionary defines the act of “traveling” as: to go

from one place to another; or to advance or proceed.

A “journey” metaphor is frequently used when

describing a goal-oriented mission. The new fundraising initiative will be a unique journey

with a very specific end in mind. A specific destination. As the definition states, it will help to

move the School of Engineering “from one place to another”.

The School is already moving, advancing, and proceeding. With every story and profile

in this magazine, the forward momentum is clear. That the School of Engineering is shaping,

cultivating and manufacturing the future is undeniable.

All good voyages depend on the right travel companions. Our alumni, friends, parents

and corporate partners have always been that for us. Now more than ever before, your

support and knowledge of the road will be indispensable.

The word destination comes from the word destiny. The dictionary defines “destiny” as:

a predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control. It is

within our power to predict that the School of Engineering is destined for great things.

However, as we set the course for this journey, we cannot control exactly what will occur

along the way. The only certainty is that the future will unfold and our destination will creep

ever closer. We hope as it does, you have come along with us, and helped to make the journey

and the ultimate destination well worth the ride.

neditor’s ote

BOARD OF COUNCILORS

CHAIRMANJay L. Kear, BSME ’60Kear Enterprises

Dean K. Allen, BSME ’57Retired, Parsons Corporation

Gordon M. Anderson, BSME ’54Retired, Santa Fe InternationalCorporation

Sonny Astani, MSISE ’78Lambert Smith Hampton

Carlton H. Baab, BSEE ’81Raining Data Corporation

William F. Ballhaus Jr. The Aerospace Corporation

Ronald R. Barnes, BS ACCT ’76Norris Foundation

Dwight J. Baum Dwight C. Baum Investments

Andrew C. BeersMicrosoft TV

Gregg E. Brandow, BSCE ’67Brandow & Johnston Associates

Edgar S. Brower, BSISE ’59Retired, Pacific Scientific

Xiaofan Cao, MA PHYS ’85,MSEE ’87, Ph.D. PHYS ’90Arasor Corporation

Yang Ho Cho, MBA ’79Korean Airlines

David W. Chonette, MSME ’60,ENGME ’64Brentwood Venture Capital

Leo ChuHollywood Park Casinoand Crystal Park Casino Hotel

Malcolm R. CurrieRetired, Hughes Aircraft Company

John DeiningerJ.D. Investments, Inc.

David DiCarlo, Ph.D. EE ’79Northrop Grumman SpaceTechnology

Steven D. Dorfman, MSEE ’59Retired, Hughes ElectronicsCorporation

Daniel J. Epstein, BSISE ’62ConAm Management Corporation

Alan J. Fohrer, BSCE ’73, MSCE ’76Southern California Edison

Alice P. Gast, BSCH ’80Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Thomas O. Gephart, BSME ’62Ventana Capital Management

Hester GillMerwyn C. Gill Foundation

M.C. Gill, BSCH ’37Merwyn C. Gill Corporation

E.R. “Ed” Glasgow, MBA ’70Lockheed Martin AeronauticsCompany

Kenton Gregory, BSEE ’76, MD ’80Oregon Medical Laser Center

Jeanette K. Harrison,DPA PUAD ’94Intel Corporation

Jen-Hsun HuangNVIDIA Corporation

Karl Jacob III, BME ’91, BS CSCI ’00Cloudmark

James J. Keenan, BSEE ’61, MS ’67Hendry Telephone Products

Kenneth R. Klein, BS BSME ’82Mercury Interactive Corporation

Geraldine Knatz, MSENV ’77,Ph.D. BISC ’79The Port of Long Beach

Marie L. Knowles, BSCHE ’68,MSCHE ’70, MBA ’74Retired, ARCO

David A. Lane, BSEE ’81Diamondhead Ventures

Robert Lee, BSEE ’70Retired, Pacific Bell

Alexander G. LivanosNorthrop Grumman

Alfred E. MannMannKind Corporation

Gordon S. Marshall, BS BUS ’46Retired, Marshall Industries

Paul W. MartinSikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Fariborz MaseehPicoco, LLC

H. Webber McKinney, BSEE ’68,MSEE ’69Hewlett-Packard Company

Richard G. MillerInformation SystemsLaboratories, Inc.

John Mork, BSPE ’70Energy Corporation of America

Daniel J. NiemannTrammell Crow CompanyDevelopment and Investment Group

Donald L. PaulChevronTexaco Corporation

Allen E. PuckettHughes Aircraft Company

F. Edward Reynolds, Jr., BSCE ’81The Reynolds Group

Forrest D. SawyerSawyer Media Incorporated

George M. Scalise Semiconductor Industry Association

A.R. [Allison] Schleicher III Retired, IBM

John Shea, BS ENG ’49J.F. Shea Co., Inc.

Regina P. SmithBioinvestments.com

Peter Staudhammer Alfred E. Mann Institute - USC

Richard D. Stephens,BS NSMA ’74The Boeing Company

Mark A. Stevens, BSEE ’81,BA ECON ’81, MS CENG ’84 Sequoia Capital

George A. StraitUniversity of California, Berkeley

Parviz Tayebati, Ph.D. Physics ’89Azna Corporation

Cyrus Y. Tsui, BSEE ’69Lattice Semiconductor Corporation

Andrew J. Viterbi, Ph.D. EE ’62The Viterbi Group, LLC

William P. WiesmannBioSTAR Group

Annette BlainDirector, Alumni Relations

DeanC. L. Max Nikias

Chief Executive Officer, External RelationsChristopher J. Stoy

Director of Alumni RelationsEditor, USC Engineer

Annette Blain

Managing EditorBob Calverley

Contributing Writers

Bob Calverley, Christian Camozzi, Mark Ewing,

Meredith Goodwin, Rick Keir, Eric Mankin,

Carl Marziali

Art Direction & Graphic DesignTracy Merrigan Creative

We wish to acknowledge the following individuals for theircontributions to this issue of USC Engineer: Steve Bucher,Lisa Horowitz, Jacqueline Williams, Christopher Noll,Sam Martinuzzi, Joel Cinnamon, Lisa Van Ingen Pope,Joyce Oo Mayne, Anna Norville, Isadora Gullov, KimCabral, Cissy Jones, Holly Bridges, David Fikse,Dennis Cornell, and Zsa Zsa Gershic.

USC Engineer is published twice a year for alumni andfriends of the School of Engineering at the University ofSouthern California.

Letters to the editor and comments are welcome. Please sendthem to: USC Engineer, Alumni Relations Office, Olin Hall300, Los Angeles, California 90089-1454, or email them touscengineer@usc.edu

USC ENGINEER 5

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A software program from the Integrated Media

Systems Center (IMSC) is responsible for the

magic in many of this year’s movie blockbusters.

Fastrack has helped a local Academy Award-

winning special effects studio drastically reduce

production time for films including “X-Men 2,”

“Daredevil” and “Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Cat in the Hat.’ ”

“Special effects involve superimposing

something synthetic onto something real,” says

Fastrack co-creator Ulrich Neumann, director of

IMSC and a computer scientist who holds the

Charles Lee Powell Chair in Engineering. “The

difficult part is to get the motion exact so the

objects move correctly relative to each other.”

Fastrack masters just that.

The software tracks motion between each

frame of film, carefully marrying “real” objects,

such as an actor, with computer-generated

special effects, such as a supersonic jet, a flying

car or a raging river.

The tool enables effects artists to process

roughly 40 percent of movie shots without

having to provide extensive human input.

“This is a huge productivity leap for us,”

says Eugene Vendrovsky, principal graphics

scientist at Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues,

which bought the right to use the IMSC

technology last year, named it Fastrack and

continually modifies it for use in complex

special effects scenes.

“We are almost twice as productive thanks

to Fastrack,” Vendrovsky says, adding that the

technology “is capable of tracking hundreds of

features from one frame to another in only a

few seconds on a standard personal computer.”

Neumann and IMSC assistant professor

Suya You developed their tracking technology

with cinema and training applications in mind.

The researchers used a set of mathematical

algorithms to determine which features in a

scene provide the best frame of reference for a

computer to track.

If the frame of reference moves, even

digital processes can be difficult and time-con-

suming. For example, in X-Men 2, a camera

pans around aircraft flying through numerous

tornadoes, all in front of the backdrop of

a sunset. The camera view of the digital

tornadoes has to match exactly with the

imagery of the aircraft and the pilot’s motions

in the filmed world.

Following the first step in any given scene

— the filming of live sets and objects, such as a

street with people — Fastrack goes to work,

analyzing the film and tracking camera motion

and staging, which saves production time early

in the process.

Effects artists then create necessary digital

elements, such as swirling tornadoes, animate

them and add any other required special

effects. In the final step, tools combine the film

IMSC’s Fastrack is a Blockbuster (And makes them too)

Right: USC’s University Park Campus. In orderto convert the imagery into an AugmentedVirtual Environment, the researchers wed thescans to ground-based, global positioning system(GPS)-correlated video of the same structures.

continued on page 10

Illustration of the 10.2 channel sound system developed by IMSC’s Immersive Audio Lab.While the Fastrack special effects have found their way into recent blockbuster movies, thissound system is now being used in several movie theaters.

6 USC ENGINEER

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Two years after 9/11, the nature of the resources

available to response personnel has not changed.

It could have. It should have. It still can.

While no society can afford to have a

prepared, orchestrated response for every

conceivable disaster, information technology

now allows us to build infrastructure and

develop general capabilities that will be useful

in responding to any threat or catastrophe—a

foundation upon which an effective response

can be constructed quickly. “Preparing for the

unexpected” may seem like an oxymoron, but

it is both possible and prudent—indeed,

necessary in an interconnected world where

complexity continually introduces unexpected

consequences.

Information Technology is, of course

only a piece in the preparation, but it is an

important one. At USC we have created a

Center for Research on Unexpected Events,

where we are trying to clarify what

contributions IT can make, and preparing

to create some of these pieces.

Our work is guided by what we learned

at a conference we organized last year in New

York, in which IT experts, engineers and social

scientists from across the country, from univer-

sities, government, and industry gathered to

consider what might contribute to improving

our responses not just to terrorist attack, but

also to conventional hazards like earthquakes,

floods, hurricanes, or firestorms like the ones

that consumed Southern California in October.

We do have something to offer, we think.

Advances in information technology now make

it possible to meld massive amounts of infor-

mation from numerous sources, including real

time sensors and previously created databases,

into highly detailed and flexible models that can

describe a city in real time. These “virtual cities”

will give decision makers dealing with an emer-

gency a living real-time image of a multilayered

urban structure so that they can instantly see

what is threatened, what resources are available,

and how best to deal with the threats. They will

also support the ability to run extremely flexible

and powerful ‘“what-if”’ simulations to evaluate

proposed response procedures, discover poten-

tial weaknesses, and act as test beds for training.

The technology required for virtual

cities would not be cheap, but it would

be useful even if no emergency

occurred, particularly in such areas as

urban planning, policymaking, social

science research, and education.

IT can also help in another virtual

area—the creation of “virtual

organizations”. Almost by definition

major unforeseen catastrophes are dealt with

by teams who come together partly by chance

and circumstance, often after the regular chain

of command and responsible bodies have been

seriously disrupted by the catastrophe itself. On

9/11, for example, the offices of one of the key

area organizations charged with emergency

response—the Port Authority of New York and

New Jersey—were destroyed in the attack.

Virtual organizations take advantage of new

communication and collaboration technologies

along with models of the situation and

decision-making processes to facilitate such ad

hoc, emergency coalitions of responders.

Even short of full-scale implementation of

these ideas, development of key component

technologies will be valuable in itself.K Encyclopedic digital collections: Response

agencies must have much better information of all

kinds—and instant access to it. A first priority should

be to create a digital collection of information about

geography, environment, resources, establishments,

buildings, computational facilities and potential

response personnel, together with software systems

that have the ability to search out answers to

pertinent questions. The knowledge need not, and

surely will not be centralized in one location. Privacy

issues will arise in creation of this collection and

these must be dealt with—but much useful work can

be done right away without compromising privacy.

K Rapidly deployable sensors and effectors:From micro-sensors to earth-observing satellites,

from simple actuators to autonomous robots.

Instantly deployable, self-configuring versions of

these must be created. Devices capable of detecting

motion, heat, light/images, sound, pressure, the pres-

ence of metal, and much more, already exist. There is

research on developing micro-scale “machines” and

reconfigurable robots. We also need to be able to

quickly deploy such sensors and effectors and to

enable them to autonomously network among them-

selves and communicate with controllers outside the

crisis zone. The units would be able to gather data

and function autonomously, convey first-hand

information to emergency managers who could issue

additional commands remotely, facilitate search and

rescue, and work in teams with human responders.

K A pervasive, secure communicationsinfrastructure: Data, computers and networks

must be rendered secure from eavesdropping and

sabotage and made less susceptible to disruptions

and loss of connectivity. A concerted effort to

develop new methods to protect computer systems

from intrusion and sabotage and enable recovery

from such disruptions will ensure that emergency

response teams can operate in safety, free from

surveillance and malicious interference. New security

initiatives must cover wired and wireless networking

and communication, for both speech and data. New

technology is needed that will allow networks to be

easily and quickly deployed, enabling networks to

self-configure and self-repair.

K Self-Teaching Features: These systems can’t be

accessible only to experts. Ordinary people in emer-

gency situations have to be able to use them, and use

them easily, under stress. Training in the skills neces-

sary to use systems must be embedded in the systems

themselves and provided when the need arises.

And finally while the research initiatives

contemplated here might be crisis-driven, they

could be brought to bear on a wide range of

problems endemic to government and society

in general. No one foresaw the explosion of

media, art, electronic commerce and education

that resulted from the creation of the commu-

nication infrastructure of the Internet. The new

research, technology and infrastructure we’re

proposing are aimed at improving our ability

to respond to unexpected disasters. But they

can also help us improve the way we address

everyday social and government problems.

Yigal Arens and Paul Rosenbloom are

faculty of the USC School of Engineering

working at the USC Information Sciences

Institute. More details are available at the

CRUE website, at http://www.isi.edu/crue/.

Modeling the Unthinkableby Yigal Arens and Paul Rosenbloom

Yigal Arens and Paul Rosenbloom

One of the most far-reaching inventions of our age —the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) — was born20 years ago this past June at the School of Engineering’sInformation Sciences Institute (ISI).

Paul Mockapetris invented the system as part of hiscollaboration with Internet pioneer, the late Jon Postel.Postel asked Mockapetris to create a distributed index ofthe Internet, then a fledgling community of only a fewthousand computers.

Mockapetris devised a system - the now ubiquitous“.com”, “.edu”, “.gov” structure that automaticallydirected name lookup requests where they weresupposed to go, creating a distributed database thatcould be managed locally, but accessed from anywhere.

Like many an elegant tool, its simplicity was its virtue.Thanks to ISI, the Internet was able to expand withoutgrowth pains from about 1,000 sites at the birth of DNS,to an estimated four billion-plus currently.

“Once you got your organization connected to thenetwork, you could have as many computers on it as youwanted, and you could name them yourself,”Mockapetris said.

DNS is an essential component of the Internetinfrastructure. All Internet users depend on DNS everytime they enter an Internet address into their webbrowser or send an email message, because the systemtranslates words into the numbers needed to locateInternet resources. The whole structure of the Internetand the vast volume of commerce it now carries rest onthe DNS protocol developed by Mockapetris, and thearchitecture created by Postel.

Their design was also prescient, and perhaps a bitfortunate in its foresight. It produced a decentralizedInternet, a strong factor in the Internet’s ubiquity and adefining characteristic of its culture. Studies have shownthat the current web, despite its decentralized andseemingly unstructured nature, has achieved aremarkable degree of order resulting from theindependent linking actions of individuals with vastlydifferent backgrounds, cultures, and goals.

Mockapetris is now chief scientist and chairmanof the board at IP (Internet Protocol) address softwarevendor Nominum; Postel worked at ISI until his untimelydeath in 1998.

Joseph D. Touch, who is currently the director of ISI’sPostel Center named in the Internet’s pioneer’s honor,hosted a gathering of computer scientists on June 23 tomark the 20th anniversary of DNS. Mockapetris, who isalso a visiting scholar at the Postel Center, was amongthose attending.

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USC ENGINEER 7

Simple, Elegant and Powerful…And “Made at USC”

Paul Mockapetris:The Man behind DNS The man who invented the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS)launched his celebrated career at the USC School of Engineering’sInformation Sciences Institute in 1978, during the heady early days ofInternet exploration and evolution. PaulMockapetris first came to ISI when hewas a graduate student at UC Irvine,working on a thesis dealing with highspeed computer networking. “One ofthe great things about ISI,” he says, “ishow many different research areas goon simultaneously: AI, systems, network-ing, integrated circuits, e-commerce —not to mention the even wider spectrumof projects where ISI folks collaboratewith others on campus and in theworldwide research community.”

Over the last 30 years, ISI has emerged as one of the world’s lead-ing research centers in the fields of computer science and informationtechnology. Mockapetris underscores its central role in developing theInternet as a highly efficient communications tool. “A lot of peoplethink the Internet was invented in Silicon Valley or somewhere else,”he says, “but the fact is that USC/ISI was one of the primary placesthat created the Internet. In my case, soon after I finished my PhDthesis, Jon Postel came into my office and suggested that I look intobuilding a replacement technology for the host table that was the“phone book” of the Internet. The host table was a few hundredmachine names and their associated addresses — a single file smallerthan a typical digital photo or music file we use today,” he notes.

“It seemed to me that the opportunity was to build a technologythat was a lot more like a distributed database, one that could beused worldwide with distributed management, and for a virtuallyunlimited set of applications. This was a pretty radical idea at thetime. The DNS system I designed was probably quite different fromwhat Jon had expected, and certainly different from the otherproposals at the time. But I coded the first root server and startedrunning it at ISI, and Jon convinced the ARPA sponsors and the folksat SRI to run other copies, and the great experiment began.”

In 1995, Mockapetris left academia to lead a series of start-upcompanies that brought high-speed Internet access to homes anddeveloped new Internet technologies and infrastructures. Today, he ischief scientist and chairman of the board of Nominum, a pioneeringprovider of IP address infrastructure software for enterprises thatrequire reliable address management for their mission critical networks.

Nonetheless, a quarter century after joining USC’s InformationSciences Institute, Mockapetris decided to bring his career full circle byrejoining the ISI last March as a visiting scholar in the Postel Center forExperimental Networking. “I’m working on technology for expandingthe DNS to tens of billions of data items,” he explains. “But I’m still inawe of the Internet foundation that was created at ISI, and gratefulfor my small part in that.”

y8 USC ENGINEER

Shortly after the last issue of USC Engineer went to press, LEONARDADLEMAN, professor of computer science and molecular biology, washonored by the Association of Computing Machinery as a co-recipientof the Turing Prize, often called the Nobel Prize of computing. TheApril 14 issue of the New York Times carried a story on the award.Then on the weekend of August 18, a long Associated Press featureon the birth of DNA computing focused largely on Adleman’sgroundbreaking work. That story was picked up by CNN, theNew York Times and many others.

Nuclear safety expert NAJM MESHKATI was interviewed at length byCanada’s Discovery Channel for a story that ran on and aroundApril 26, the anniversary of the catastrophic Chernobyl nuclearaccident. The Los Angeles Times did a story on May 5 about civilengineering researcher JOSE BORRERO’S study of the tsunami risk toSouthern California. Then the August 18 issue of the Economist hada story about his civil engineering colleague, COSTAS SYNOLAKIS andthe impact of his digital tools on the study of tsunamis.

MIT’s Technology Review May 28 issue included a major story onthe “brain-machine interface” that drew heavily from biomedicalengineer TED BERGER’S project. Fellow biomedical engineerVASILIS MARMARELIS and graduate student WALID SOUSSOU werealso quoted in the article, which included several USC researchphotos. Transportation engineer JAMES MOORE took aim at the newlyopened Metro Rail Gold Line, and L.A. rail transportation in general,in an op-ed article published August 6 in the Los Angeles Times.

For much of the summer, ISI’s struggle with rapid language translationdrew much media attention. Wired.com weighed in first on June 10,with an article describing a DARPA-funded exercise to see how quicklycomputer scientists could gear up to translate Hindi. That storyfeatured FRANZ JOSEF OCH at ISI. By July 15, the Indian Expresswas describing the action with a story on ISI’s EDUARD HOVY. A storyon the project in the August 10 issue of EW Woman focused ongraduate student LIAN ZHOU. A July 31 story in the New York Timescovered the entire issue of machine language translation with muchof its attention on ISI’s KEVIN KNIGHT.

The June 10 InfoWorld named ISI grid computing guru CARLKESSELMAN (MSEE ’84) and colleagues at Argonne National Laboratoryto its list of 2003 Innovators. The July 15 New York Times ran a majorstory on the grid computing revolution, once again featuring Kesselmanand colleagues. On June 16, Business 2.0 named PAUL RONNEY’S tinyfuel cells as one of the “Six Technologies That Will Change the World.The June 16 issue of LA Weekly took a look at BEHROKH KOSHNEVIS’quest to vastly scale up rapid prototyping technology and use it tocreate machines that would build houses in 24 hours or less.

The 20th anniversary of the invention of the Internet’s Domain NameSystem (DNS) at ISI, making dot-com part of our language, was bignews in the tech and some mainstream media. The Boston Globe,New York Post, Wired.com and a host of radio and televisionstations, including KNX, KFWB, KPCC and KCBS-TV marked theoccasion with stories. Among those making news were HERB SCHORRand BOB BRADEN at ISI, as well as the former ISI researcher whohelped invent the DNS, PAUL MOCKAPETRIS, who is the chairman ofNominium and a visiting scholar at ISI this year.

Public television station KCET-TV’s Life & Times profiled ISI’sLEWIS JOHNSON on July 31 in a story that covered his research tohumanize computers as well as his second career as a singer. WEI MINSHEN and PETER WILL and their shape-shifting robots were stars in anews article in Science magazine on August 13. The massive poweroutage that struck New York and much of the East and Midwestbrought the media to interview electrical engineer and powergrid expert T.C. CHENG. He was on National Public Radio,the Lehr Newshour on PBS, CBS and other outlets.

IMSC Director ULRICH NEUMANN told the New York Times on July18 that new electronic devices were transforming video much thesame way that the Walkman had transformed music. The memo ofunderstanding signed by USC and ChevronTexaco on August 29resulted in stories in the Contra Costa Times, L. A. BusinessJournal, WashingtonPost.com and others. On September 4, theNew York Times ran a long story about IMSC’s groundbreakingresearch creating virtual humans. The entire story focused on IMSC,and Director ULRICH NEUMANN was quoted extensively.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!The USC School of Engineering projects and faculty continue to generate headlines and here are some of the highlights…

USC Football TicketsAvailable!

Join us for one of the most exciting seasons in USCfootball history! A limited number of football tickets forthe Trojans’ final game of the regular season are available

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USC vs. Oregon StateSaturday, December 6

$25/ticketPlease contact the School of Engineering at 213/740-2502for information on how to purchase tickets, or visit our

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School of Engineering Hires “Retention Czar”Maura Jenkins, a materials scientist who recently completedher PhD at Stanford began working in the fall semester asretention coordinator for the USC School of Engineering.

While a graduate student, she worked in Stanford’sUndergraduate Advising Center where she counseled studentson issues including major selection, graduate school andacademic probation as well as developing residential-basedadvising programs. She also helped recruit under-representedstudents into the school and coordinated several summerdiversity programs for the center. She was also the graduate student coordinatorfor the Society of Women Engineers at Stanford.

“Maura will be primarily involved in further developing the FreshmenAcademy program, revamping the peer tutoring program, identifying andworking with at-risk students and collecting analyzing and standardizing someof our retention data,” says Louise Yates, associate dean for admissions. “She willbe assisting with the development of a centrally coordinated advisement systemand ultimately will help us to develop a women in engineering program.”

The USC School of Engineering established the

Center for Engineering Diversity nearly three

decades ago to enhance the recruitment,

retention and graduation of African American,

Hispanic and Native American students

pursing engineering and computer science

degrees.

“Let’s face it, engineering is a tough

discipline,” says Louise Yates, associate dean for

admissions and student affairs. “We need to

find ways to attract a diverse student body to

USC, and at the same time engage these

students and build their commitment to

engineering. We work towards doing that with

all of our students.”

As reported in the Spring/Summer 2003

issue of USC Engineer, the School’s

Undergraduate Curriculum Revision Task

Force made a number of recommendations to

reinvigorate the undergraduate engineering

experience, including the creation freshmen

“academies”. These are cohorts of students

who study, meet and bond together throughout

the year.

The first two academies were launched

this fall as a pilot project. They build upon

earlier successful programs such as those

developed by the Center for Engineering

Diversity to foster a sense of community

among new freshmen. It’s an excellent example

of how the School’s commitment to attracting

and retaining the best and brightest students

can work.

The School begins working with

under-represented students well before they

report for their first college class. Grants from

the State of California enable engineering’s

MESA (Math, Engineering and Science

Achievement) pre-college program to promote

exciting and fun science and math programs in

local schools, from third grade through high

school.

“This important program helps urban

schools formulate their math and science

instruction,” says Yates. “It also provides teacher

training and after-school programs designed

to bring math and science alive for young

students, and prepares high school students for

college-level courses in these areas.”

Once at USC, under-represented

engineering students can take advantage of the

Center for Engineering Diversity’s wide-rang-

ing programs. “We offer academic, career and

personal counseling, designed to meet each

student’s individual interests and needs,” says

Janene White, the center’s director. “We

also work with industry partners to offer

professional development workshops that help

to prepare students academically, professionally

and personally for success.”

One of the center’s core programs is the

two-week residential Summer Bridge Program

for incoming freshmen. “Students come from

all across the country, and it’s the first time

most of them have been on their own,” says

White. “They meet the center’s staff and the

faculty, and take part in academic and time-

management workshops and team-building

exercises. We make sure they also learn about

all the academic counseling and advisement

services available at the School and USC

as a whole.”

Perhaps most importantly, students in the

Summer Bridge Program build relationships

with each other and with upperclassmen who

participate in the center’s programs. “The most

successful and happy engineering undergradu-

ates are the ones who make teamwork and

group study a central part of their academic

lives,” says White. “Summer Bridge encourages

students to bond with each other and with the

center’s staff as part of their studies. They know

that no matter what the issue, they can talk to

us like family.”

Leah Turner, a junior majoring in civil

engineering, recalls her experience of the 2001

Summer Bridge Program with enthusiasm: “It

was one of the best things I could have done.

By the time I arrived for the fall term, I’d

already made friends with kids who were in my

classes, and I knew my way around campus.

That confidence really gave me a leg up on my

studies,” she says.

Throughout the year, the center’s students

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ENGINEERING’S WIN-WIN SITUATION The Center for Engineering Diversity

USC ENGINEER 9

continued on page 21

“The most successful and happy engineering undergraduates arethe ones who make teamwork and group study a central part oftheir academic lives,” says White. “Summer Bridge encouragesstudents to bond with each other and with the center’s staff aspart of their studies.

Left to right: students Kechy Eke, computer science; Felipe Murillo, mechanical engineering;Robyn Jackson, aerospace engineering; and Director Janene White

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10 USC ENGINEER

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Dean C. L. Max Nikias hasannounced the appointment offour faculty members to endowedchairs and professorships.

“The collective researchconducted by our faculty continuesto push USC Engineering into theranks of the elite engineeringschools in the country,” says Nikias.“I am pleased to have the resourcesto reward these very worthymembers of our faculty.”

Aristides Requicha, professor ofcomputer science, will hold theGordon Marshall Chair inEngineering. Requicha directs theCenter for Molecular Robotics andis the principal investigator in aproject to develop nanoscale robotsto monitor ocean microorganisms.

“His research into nanotechnol-ogy, microsensor networks, aswell as nanorobotics has broughtconsiderable attention to theseareas both in the United States andabroad,” says Nikias.

Theodore Berger, professor ofbiomedical engineering, has been

appointed to the David PackardChair in Engineering. Berger hasbeen directing a long-term projectto develop an implantable comput-er chip that would communicatedirectly with neural tissue.

“Ted Berger has long been aleader in the field of neuralengineering,” says Nikias. “Withthe burgeoning effort in theSchool’s biotechnology initiative,I anticipate he will assume an evengreater leadership role.”

The Fred H. Cole Professorshipin Engineering will be held byRobert Scholtz, professor of electri-cal engineering systems. A facultymember for 40 years, the much-honored Scholtz began the firstuniversity research program inultra-wideband radio, a promisingtechnology with applications inwireless networks, security systemsand consumer electronics.

About his work, Nikias says,“Bob Scholtz has created andmentored a credible and successfulresearch effort in both spread

spectrum communications andultra-wideband radio that reachesfar beyond the boundaries of ourcampus.”

Terence Langdon, professorof aerospace and mechanicalengineering, materials science andearth sciences, will hold the WilliamE. Leonhard Professorship inEngineering. Langdon is one of themost cited materials scienceresearchers in the world, and hiswork on superplasticity of metals hasimportant commercial applications.

“Terry Langdon has created aninternational presence for himselfas a Fellow of the Royal Academyof Engineering, and through hissignificant research effort inmaterials science which reachesacross both oceans,” says Nikias.

Before making the appoint-ments, Nikias convened a committeeof the School’s faculty who currentlyhold endowed chairs and solicitedtheir opinions. Prior to the appoint-ments, all four of the chairs andprofessorships were unoccupied.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING NAMES FOUR TO ENDOWED CHAIRSAND PROFESSORSHIPS

and computer elements and transfer the scene

from digital data onto film.

“You create a lot of image layers and

superimpose them later,” says Neumann. “The

layers can be real people and objects in a studio

or synthetic, digital graphics, but they are all

interwoven in the final image.”

Until the advent of computer graphics

technology in the 1980s, a team of animators

had to draw many effects onto the film one

frame at a time — much like cartoonists — or

shoot miniature models frame by frame.

Computer programs have since enabled

machines to take over many of the hand-drawn

tasks. For example, Fastrack completes the

initial, difficult matching, processing each

frame in seconds. A person then performs final

edits and adjustments to turn the film into a

finished product.

“Someone starts the software, looks over

the results and cleans up the shot,” Vendrovsky

describes, “in a process that now takes a couple

of hours instead of couple of days.”

Despite similar software on the market,

Fastrack tops the competition with its

efficiency and self-assessment capabilities,

Neumann explains.

“Many programs out there can do the job

but they’re interactive, requiring effects artists

to track the progress themselves,” he says. “This

consumes people and time, and that’s costly.

“Fastrack is unique in that it’s designed to

be quick, yet careful, and is able to self-assess

which features are being tracked well and

which aren’t,” Neumann adds. “In the end, this

saves a lot of production time.”

IMSC is the sole Engineering Research

Center funded by the National Science

Foundation for Internet and multimedia

technologies. Its technologies have applications

in entertainment, security, communications

and education, and include 10.2 channel sound

systems for movie theaters and 3D surveillance

technology for airport security.

“The research at IMSC brings

engineering, art, mathematics, psychology and

computer science together,” says Mary Harper,

the NSF program officer who oversees support

of the center and its research, education and

industrial collaboration programs. “The

breakthroughs coming out of IMSC affect

everyday life.”

For more information on IMSC, go to:

http://imsc.usc.edu.

IMSC’s Fastrack is a Blockbuster continued from page 5

USC ENGINEER 11

Semper Fi ISI Software Adopted by Marines

The Office of Naval Research has signed a $5.74 million contract to expand

the use of software for coordinating air operations and maintenance. A team

led by the School of Engineering’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI)

developed the software for all Marine Corps’ tactical aircraft.

“The software helps the military coordinate the many activities involved

in preparing for combat, and combat itself, in ways that reduce risk, increase

likelihood of mission success and best support the commander’s intent,” says

Robert Neches, ISI’s prime contractor for the system.

ISI collaborated with Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Software

Integrated Systems (ISIS) and others to create the system, which rapidly

performs complex scheduling functions that previously required hours of

work by highly

trained officers.

The system has

been evaluated in

operational use by

squadrons of Harrier

jets, both land- and

carrier-based, since

August 2002, includ-

ing units participat-

ing in Operation

Iraqi Freedom.

The new three-

year contract will

create versions of the

system tailored to all

aircraft types used by the Marine Corps’ 90 tactical air squadrons, and will

elevate its use up the command chain by adding tools for commanders of air

combat elements within Marine expeditionary brigades.

The contract includes an agreement to supply versions of the system to

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for use in demonstrations of its

Autonomic Logistics Information System, which is being developed to

support the new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

More than $3.3 million of the contract funding will go to ISI, with the

rest distributed among Vanderbilt/ ISIS and other contractors, including

IDEA Services, LLC of Oakland, Maryland, and Lloyd Lamont Design Inc.,

of Herndon, Virginia.

The Comprehensive Analytic Real-Time Execution for Joint Operations

effort funded under this contract integrates Autonomous Negotiating

Teamware (ANT), and intelligent information management technology previ-

ously developed for the Harrier attack squadrons. The metaphor ANT uses is

one of human negotiation that rapidly explores tradeoffs and reformulates

requirements to balance the considerations of many different stakeholders.

Repeated tests of the ANT system by Marine Aircraft Group 13, both at its

headquarters in Yuma, Arizona, and aboard aircraft carriers, led to highly

positive evaluations by senior officers.

“This follow-on contract is a great vote of confidence in our system,” says

Neches, who is an associate professor in the department of computer science.

“We believe it will have civilian applications as well.”

FOUR PLUS ONEPROGRAMIt is now possible for undergraduates to get an engineeringmasters degree from USC in just one year, saving a semester’stuition and time.

Just ask Patty Porto. Last summer, she received herundergraduate degree in electrical engineering with anemphasis in computer architecture, and now she’s well on herway to a masters in electrical engineering. She will graduatethis summer, having received both degrees in just five years.

Porto is benefiting from the School of Engineering’s new4+1 program. It allows students to begin their graduate workin their senior year, while also counting one 400-level coursefor both their bachelors and masters degrees.

“After going through four rough years to earn a bache-lors, it’s quite appealing to think of obtaining a second degreein just one short year,” says Porto. “And my undergraduatecourses directly prepared me for the graduate courses.”

The program requires some careful planning on the partof students. “During my last semester as an undergraduate,I was taking two classes for my master’s, two for myundergraduate degree, and one that I was double creditingfor both,” says Porto. “I was also the president ofthe Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at thetime, so it was quite a hectic semester.”

But from a professional standpoint, theprogram is a smart move. “More and more studentsare seeing that a bachelors degree is not enough,”says Louise Yates, engineering’s associate dean foradmissions and student affairs. “They’ve got to getthe masters. They like the opportunity to go straightthrough, so they make room in their senior year tothrow grad courses in there.”

This program might seem particularly appealingnow, given the less-than-sunny job market. “Somestudents want to wait out the economy,” says Yates.“Getting a masters degree can be a good back-upplan.” And when they eventually do face the jobmarket, they’ll already have an advanced degree ontheir resume.

The 4+1 program also allows students to buildon relationships they formed as undergraduates.“I have had four years to get to know some of thefaculty that I will still be working within the mastersprogram,” says Porto.

Other schools—including University ofPennsylvania, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon—areimplementing similar programs. In the future, DeanNikias would like to expand the 4+1 program tomake it available to undergraduates from the naturalsciences. st

ud

en

t w

ork

s

Harrier Jet squadron

The department of MaterialsScience & Engineering is thelittle department that could.

The Institute for ScientificInformation, an organizationthat measures the impact offaculty’s research, has putProfessors Terry Langdon,Anupam Madhukar andFlorian Mansfeld on theworldwide list (that at presentcontains 214 faculty) of highly-cited researchers in materialsscience. There is no faculty fromUCLA on this list, one from UCIrvine and three from Caltech.

Although the smallestdepartment in the School,it is highly influential in thematerials science academic

arena. Not only are thedepartment faculty membersastonishingly productive in thenumber of papers they publish,but those papers are cited byan amazing number of othermaterials science researchers intheir publications.

As of mid-September 2003,Langdon had been cited 2,128times on 89 papers publishedbetween 1997 and 2001.Madhukar had 874 citations for40 papers published during thesame period. Professor FlorianMansfeld had 244 citationson 47 papers. ProfessorSteve Nutt was cited 79 timesfor nine papers and AssociateProfessor Ed Goo had 32

citations on seven papers. “Obviously, a very small

department such as ours canhave a major impact on itsfield,” says Mansfeld, who ischair of the department. “Our10 faculty with joint appoint-ments also write papers dealingwith materials science, whichmakes the number of publishedpapers and citations even moreimpressive.”

Alan Willner, professor ofelectrical engineering, willreceive the 2003 IEEE Lasers& Electro-Optics Society (LEOS)Distinguished Service Award.Of 12 previous recipients, fourare members of the NationalAcademy of Engineering, all are

IEEE Fellows and nine are pastpresidents of LEOS, which hasapproximately 7,000 members.

Willner also received theEddy Award for the BestContributed Technical Articlefrom Pennwell Publications.In addition, the students inhis research group had 15technical papers accepted forpresentation to the 2003Conference on Optical FiberCommunications, the largestnumber ever presented by anysingle academic research groupin the 19-year history of theconference. Willner has giventwo plenary presentations, thefirst at the IEEE Lasers andElectro-Optics Society Summer

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12 USC ENGINEER

Board of Councilors Gains StrengthDean C. L. Max Nikias has made nine important additions to the Board.

John Deininger has forty-seven years ofbusiness experience and is still active asdirector and equity investor in eightprivate manufacturing companies. Hehas invested in and served as CEO andpresident of Union City Body Company,an $80 million manufacture of step-deliv-ery vans which was successfully broughtout of bankruptcy. Prior to this, ascorporate executive vice president ofIllinois Tool Works, Deininger managedand revitalized seven Midwest companiesand all of ITW’s Far East Businesses. Aspresident and chief operating officer atSignode Industries, he led its $550 millionLBO, reducing debt by 50% in four yearswithout any asset divestitures beforeselling the entire company to Illinois ToolWorks. Deininger excels in operationaloptimization through alignment ofmanagement and investor goals. Hereceived his degree from BradleyUniversity in 1954 and worked towardan MBA at University of Chicago.

Ed Glasgow is currently technical vicepresident for the advanced development

programs organization within LockheedMartin Aeronautics Company. Previously,he was vice president of engineering andadvanced programs for the LockheedMartin Skunk Works. Glasgow receivedboth bachelors and masters degrees inmechanical engineering from PurdueUniversity and Stanford University, respec-tively; and was awarded an MBA degreefrom the University of Southern Californiain 1970. He is a fellow of the SAE, associ-ate fellow of the AIAA, and a registeredprofessional engineer in the state ofCalifornia. He was selected Inventor ofthe Year for the Skunk Works in 1994.

Kenton Gregory (BSCHE ’76) is founder,vascular project scientist, and director ofthe Oregon Medical Laser Center atProvidence St. Vincent Medical Center.He has an extensive resume in the field ofcardiology and is an expert and inventorin the field of elastin and cardiovascularlaser welding technologies. Gregory isthe principle inventor of the tissueengineered vascular graft based onelastin matrices. He is a practicing

interventional cardiologist, holds 18patents in the field of biotechnologywith many published articles and bookchapters in this field. Gregory is aprofessor of biomedical engineering atthe Oregon Graduate Institute, andassistant professor of medicine andcardiology at Oregon Health and ScienceUniversity. He received his medical degreein 1980 from USC.

Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded NVIDIACorporation in April 1993 and has servedas its president, chief executive officer anda member of the Board of Directors sinceits inception. Under his leadership, thecompany has reached a run-rate ofapproximately $2 billion and has becomeone of the largest fabless semiconductorcompanies in the world. NVIDIA hasreceived numerous business andtechnology awards during Huang’stenure, including Fortune’s FastestGrowing Companies, Wired Magazine’sTop 40 and Stanford Business School’sEntrepreneurial Company of the Year.Huang was also the recipient of the

Topical Meeting on PolarizationMode Dispersion in Vancouver;and the second at the 7thOpto-Electronics andCommunications Conferencein Pacifico Yokohama, Japan.

Urbashi Mitra, associateprofessor of electricalengineering, has been selectedto participate in the NationalAcademy of Engineering’s ninthannual Frontiers of Engineeringsymposium.

Michael Crowley, a seniorlecturer in computer science,received the 2003 NorthropGrumman Excellence inTeaching Award.

Robert Scholtz, professorof electrical engineering, has

won the Schelkunoff Award forhis paper, “An Evaluation of theUltra-wideband PropagationChannel,” which appeared inthe May 2002 issue of the IEEETransactions on Antennas andPropagation.

At the annual meeting ofthe Society of EngineeringScience held at the Universityof Michigan in Ann Arbor inOctober, Tony Maxworthy,the Smith Internationalprofessor of mechanicalengineering, received theG.I.Taylor Medal. He washonored by a dedicated,two-day symposium thathighlighted his contributionsto fluid dynamics. The medal

is named for Sir Geoffrey Taylor,a famous practitioner of thescience and art of fluiddynamics of the 20th century.

A paper by Keith Chugg,associate professor of electricalengineering, and doctoralcandidate Mingrui Zhu hasbeen selected to receive the2003 Fred W. Ellersick Awardfor best paper in theunclassified program at theIEEE Military Communications(MILCOM ’03) conference.The award is presented by theIEEE’s Communications Society.

Carl Kesselman, (MSEE’84) research associate profes-sor of computer science anddirector of the Center for Grid

Technologies at the InformationSciences Institute (ISI) has beennamed an ISI Fellow. He is onlythe fourth recipient of the titlesince it was instituted in 1999.Kesselman has been instrumen-tal in advancing grid computingtechnology that allows fordistributed computation andcoordinated problem solving indynamic, multi-institutionalvirtual organizations. TheGlobus Toolkit, developed byKesselman and his partner IanFoster at Argonne NationalLaboratory, has become thestandard for grid computingand has received strongsupport from IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle.

USC ENGINEER 13

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School of Engineering 2002 EngineeringManagement Award. Huang holds a bach-elor’s and master’s degree in electricalengineering from Oregon State Universityand Stanford University, respectively.

Fariborz Maseeh is a worldwide-recog-nized expert in the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). He foundedIntelliSense in 1991 with the vision ofreducing the time and expense ofcreating next-generation MEMS devices.Under his leadership, IntelliSensesuccessfully launched the first customdesign, development and manufacturingMEMS operation. Maseeh has over sixtyscientific publications in business strategy,fabrication technologies, design andsoftware for MEMs, and has authoreda number of patents. He serves on theboard of several technology firms andnon-profit organizations. Maseehreceived a doctoral of science degreefrom Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology in June 1990.

Donald Paul is vice president and chieftechnology officer for ChevronTexacoCorporation. Prior to the merger, hewas vice president, technology andenvironmental affairs, for Chevron Corp.,a position he had held since 1996. Paul is

responsible for coordinating the workof Chevron’s research and technologycompanies and accelerating thedevelopment and application ofcompetitive technology throughoutthe company’s worldwide activities.He joined Chevron in 1975 as a researchgeophysicist. He is a graduate of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology,with a bachelors degree in appliedmathematics, a masters degree ingeology and a doctorate in geophysics.

John F. Shea (BS Engr. ’49) is the presidentand chairman of the board of J.F. SheaHeavy Construction, Shea Homes, SheaProperties, Shata Electric and ReedManufacturing. He is a past president andcurrent member of the Beavers USCAssociates, as well as being a trustee fornumerous foundations. Shea also holdsthe honors of Knight of Malta andKnight Commander of St. Gregory.Some of his accolades include theBeavers Management Award, theMoles Management Award, and theCardinals Award.

Parviz Tayebati is the chairman and chiefexecutive officer of AZNA Corporation,which he co-founded in June 2002. UntilMarch 2002, he was vice president of

business development for the componentdivision at Nortel Networks OpticalComponents. During the same period, hewas responsible for the development ofCoreTek, a company he founded and ranas CEO until it was acquired by NortelNetworks in March 2000. Tayebatireceived a bachelors of science degreewith first class honors from the Universityof Birmingham, England in 1982,followed by a masters degree from theUniversity Cambridge UK in theoreticalphysics. He received a doctorate in Physicsfrom USC in 1989.

William Wiesmann had a 21-year militarycareer that culminated with his serving asthe director for combat casualty care atthe U.S. Army Medical Research andMaterial Command. Wiesmann is thepresident of the BioSTAR Group, aconsortium of biotechnology companiesfocused on advanced technology, medicalR&D and independent consulting. Heis a co-founder and president of ahemorrhage control technology company,HemCon Inc., and a co-founder of TissueGenesis Inc., a vascular biology company.His interests include both clinical andlaboratory biomedical research.Wiesmann received his medical degreefrom Washington University.

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14 USC ENGINEER

Proteus: Changing Shape and Granting WishesFunded by Microsoft, computer scientistsat the USC School of Engineering havedeveloped a powerful and versatile newsuite of web service tools for science andcommerce. And they have named theircreation for a Greek sea god who couldchange shape into any form and grantany wish.

“We think Proteus will do forprofessional and institutional users,such as scientists and IT businessspecialists, what sophisticatedweb products like Google do forindividuals,” says ShahramGhandeharizadeh. He is anassociate professor of computerscience and co-leader of the largeteam that has been developing theapplication for more than a year.The group plans to have aprototype ready in November.

Proteus will be a Window-resident utility that will acceptinstructions in the widely-used SQLprogramming language.

Ghandeharizadeh says it will employ“side doors” to web sites, web serviceaccess points that Microsoft and otherlarge information technology (IT)concerns have built into software inanticipation of Web service utilitieslike Proteus.

“Web services” is an emergingconcept in information technologiesin which web resources are queried byspecial applications. Web services aresometimes called application-to-applica-tion communication as opposed tothe more familiar human-to-web-siteinteraction found in search engines.

“Rather than having the individualhuman user interact with a web site’ssoftware in real time,” co-leader CraigKnoblock explains, “a user query createsspecial, dedicated software that will goout, negotiate with web resourceprovider’s software, and get what theuser needs.”

For example, an individual whowants to find an aerial photo of abuilding at a given address must takea series of distinct and separate steps toaccomplish their goal. First they mustfind an appropriate web site. Next, theyenter a query into that site’s interface.Finally, they might use that informationto go to other sites, eventually findingthe needed photo.

Proteus would flexibly automate

processes like this. It would locate andthen automatically pull web informationfrom many sources into custom-desiredconfigurations and would aid manyhigh-level scientific and commercialapplications, say its developers.

The new software is not aimed atconsumers, according to Knoblock, a

senior project leader at USC’sInformation Sciences Institute. Rather,users are more likely to be scientistsand business computer professionalswho need wholesale, automatic accessto information in bulk.

The researchers presented a paperentitled “Proteus: A System forDynamically Composing and IntelligentlyExecuting Web Services,” at the firstinternational conference on Webservices, held in Las Vegas in June.

Besides Ghandeharizadeh andKnoblock, the Proteus team includesChristos Papadopoulos and CyrusShahabi, both assistant professors ofcomputer science, and ISI computerscientist Jose-Luis Ambite-Molina, alongwith six graduate students.

Team Proteus: left to right: Runfang Zhou, Snehal Thakkar, Ching-Chien Chan, Min Cai,Jose-Luis Ambite-Molina, Craig Knoblock, Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, Dongchul Choi,Esam Alwagait, Christos Papadopoulos, Cyrus Shahabi.

“Rather than having theindividual human user

interact with a web site’ssoftware in real time,”

co-leader Craig Knoblockexplains, “a user query

creates special, dedicatedsoftware that will go out,

negotiate with webresource provider’s

software, and get whatthe user needs.”

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USC ENGINEER 15

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It takes two to tango, but now they don’t have

to be together. USC’s Integrated Media Systems

Center (IMSC) showed two musicians in

different locations how to use the Internet to

play their tango.

Elaine Chew, assistant professor of

industrial and systems engineering, and Dennis

Thurmond, lecturer of keyboard studies,

played an adaptation of Astor Piazolla’s (1921-

1992) “Le Grand Tango” over the Internet for a

small group in IMSC’s Powell Hall theater.

Their demonstration was an early realiza-

tion of an interactive Internet performance,

and the musicians themselves compensated for

Internet delay. The fast-paced tango was filled

with syncopations (off-beats), posing both

engineering and musical challenges.

Thurmond played the accordion in front

of the audience in Powell, while Chew

appeared on a large screen, playing the piano in

Ramo Hall, a quarter mile away. To coordinate

their playing, Thurmond watched her on the

screen, and Chew watched him on a monitor.

Since Chew needed to listen to both the sound

of Thurmond’s accordion and the sound of her

own piano playing, she used a single earphone,

allowing her to hear the piano with one ear and

the accordion with the other.

“By the time I heard the reaction to an

action that I had initiated,” Chew said, “many

more notes had already been played. So I had to

craft a musical interpretation and hold a steady

pulse while keeping an ear out for delayed cues

of possible ensemble issues at Powell.”

She said that Thurmond had to anticipate

her every move to make sure that the piece was

synchronized to create a coherent performance.

And, she pointed out, “a little creative license

was taken once or twice” in the eight-minute

performance “to ensure that all ends were met.”

The occasion was a demonstration for a

National Science Foundation (NSF) site visit

team touring IMSC in June as part of the

center’s annual evaluation. IMSC is NSF’s

engineering research center for multimedia

and Internet research.

The demonstration was part of IMSC’s

Distributed Immersive Performance (DIP)

project, aimed at developing the technology for

a concert with the conductor, musicians and

audience in different physical locations, deliv-

ered in real-time over the Internet. Other phases

of the five-year project will be a concert by a trio

and then a concert involving a full orchestra.

“Playing together over the Internet is one

of the hardest problems to solve,” according

to Roger Zimmermann, research assistant

professor of computer science and co-director

of the project.

He pointed out

that the main concern

is reducing the delay in

the delivery of both

audio and video to a

tolerable level for each

musician as he or she

tries to follow the

conductor and play

along with the other

musicians.

When a conductor

is included in a later

phase, the researchers will strive for three goals:

ensuring that concurrent, synchronized video of

the conductor is transmitted to all players; syn-

chronized video and audio are transmitted

among the players; and delayed, synchronized

video and audio are transmitted to the audience.

The researchers are taking an unique

approach. They consider the entire end-to-end

process of acquisition, transmission and

rendering as an integrated system that will be

jointly optimized rather than presented as a set

of individual pieces of technology.

In addition to investigating transmission

delay, they will conduct research on numerous

other issues, including data loss management;

network error correction; precision timing

(using highly accurate Global Positioning

System (GPS) clocks);

distributed event

recording and recall;

and evaluation of

musician coordination.

Alexander (Sandy)

Sawchuk, professor of

electrical engineering

and the other co-direc-

tor of the project, says

the project is a test bed

for cross-disciplinary

investigation into

psycho-acoustical, neurological and artistic

issues. He explains that the project is the first

step in meeting the overall goal of IMSC’s enter-

tainment vision project- to create seamless dis-

tributed environments for highly realistic inter-

action among people in entertainment, online

games, simulations, teleconferencing, social

gatherings, performance events and sports.

Dennis Thurmond and Elaine Chew play the tango via the internet between Powell and Ramo Halls.

A Tango for Two…in Two Places

They consider the entire end-to-end process of acquisition,transmission and renderingas an integrated system thatwill be jointly optimizedrather than presented as aset of individual pieces oftechnology.

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16 USC ENGINEER

Researchers at the USC School ofEngineering have created a new tool fororganizing and visualizing collections ofelectronic mail. It is designed to help legalresearchers, historians, archivists, andothers faced with challenges in dealingwith large email archives.

For examples, consider the followingproblems:

K A large corporation receives a

subpoena for all email messages on

a specific question. Traditional

keyword searches return an

enormous volume of mail that must

be scanned by lawyers and paralegals

for applicability. In the same way, the

recipients of the subpoenaed data

must analyze it. Can this process be

sped up and made more efficient?

K A historian is analyzing the history

of a government decision using an

email archive. Reading all the text

gives a great deal of information

about the decision, but only careful

notes can keep track of such events

as shifts over time in the distribution

of information, and even then subtle

changes are hard to catch. Can

software help?

K A library receives a donation

of a famous scientist’s e-mail

correspondence. Besides a simple

listing of titles, addresses, and dates,

is there a way that the information

in the archive can be made

more immediately useful and

comprehensible to users?

On July 30 at the Association forComputing Machinery Special InterestGroup conference on InformationRetrieval in Toronto, Anton Leuski at theSchool’s Information Sciences Institute(ISI) demonstrated a system designed toaddress such problems. Called“eArchivarius,” Leuski’s system usessophisticated search software developed forInternet search engines like Google, to

detect importantrelationshipsbetween messagesand people by takingadvantage ofinherent clues thatexist in emailcollections. It thenautomatically createsa vivid and intuitivevisual interface, usingspheres grouped inspace to representthe relationships itdiscovers.

Who’s in the loop?Visualization showsrelationships betweencorrespondents.

One experimentalexercise analyzedexchanges of e-mailamong Reagan administration nationalsecurity officials. The visualization immedi-ately showed some recipients close to thecenter with their most frequent correspon-dents packed into a tight cluster. It was clearthat others were literally out of the loopbecause they are far out on the periphery.

The spheres can also be arrangedto show other factors and the resultingconfiguration shows existing communitiesof people who converse on the same topicand the relationships among thosecommunities. It is possible to generate alist of all the people with whom a selectedperson exchanged e-mail with a time-graphed record that shows when theexchanges took place.

“For a historian trying to understandthe process by which a decision was madeover a course of months, this kind ofaccess will be extremely valuable,” saysLeuski, a research associate at ISI.

The same interface can instantlyreturn and display individual pieces ofmail in the form of hypertext pages with

links to the people who sent and receivedthe email, as well as links to similar emailmessages.

“What we have in effect is a fourdimensional display, with color added tothe three spatial dimensions,” says DouglasOard, an associate professor of computerscience from University of Maryland’sCollege of Information Studies and itsInstitute for Advanced ComputerStudies. Oard is working at ISI during asabbatical year.

Leuski and Oard have demonstratedthe ability to find interesting patterns incollections as small as a few hundrede-mails, and the techniques they havedeveloped are now being applied to thou-sands of emails sent and received by a singleindividual over 18 years. The next challengewill be scaling up the process to millions ofe-mails involving thousands of people.

“E-mail has become a major elementof modern life and the raw material ofhistory,” says Oard. “We believe thateArchivarius offers a way into the emaillabyrinth for researchers of all kinds.”

Mapping the E-mail Labyrinth

Inside the Labyrinth. Lighthouse software tools designed by AntonLeuski enable senders email messages to be visualized as spheres inspace, grouped by numbers of messages exchanged between eachother to show relationships. The same kinds of visualizations canbe used to group the messages themselves by content and to showother relations.

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USC ENGINEER 17

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BLOODWORK C.-A. Peng’s Quest for a Synthetic Blood

Blood is precious. Modern healthcarerelies keenly on donated blood to treatpatients with severe losses, such as thosewho have suffered trauma or undergonesurgery. Dialysis patients require vastamounts of blood on a regular basis,and an emergency situation—from alarge-scale accident to a terroristattack—can quickly strain an entireregion’s blood supply.

Given our considerable and constantreliance on usable blood, the push tofind a safe replacement—something thatour bodies will accept as a substitute—takes on particular immediacy.

Meet C.-A. Peng, professor ofchemical engineering at the School ofEngineering who stands at the forefrontof researchers seeking to develop ablood substitute. For the past four yearshe has been advancing this work, andlately has made significant progress.

“This research is nothing new,” saysPeng. “The quest for a blood substitutegoes back several decades. A hemoglo-bin-based blood substitute produced byone company in Massachusetts hasalready been approved for use inSouth Africa.”

Researchers have also shownthat perfluorocarbon (PFC) liquid can

effectively dissolve oxygen. The PFCs arestructurally similar to hydrocarbons, butwith fluorines replacing all or most of thehydrogen atoms. They are thermallystable and metabolically inert, thanks totheir strong carbon-fluorine bonds. Thismeans they can be stored effectively andsafely transported under a wide range ofconditions.

But there’s still much work to bedone. Because PFC cannot mingle withblood plasma, creating a viable artificialblood based on PFC is tricky. As Pengexplains, “if you’re going to put thissubstitute in the body intravenously, youneed to make an emulsion. You haveto add a surfactant to make it mixablewith water.”

To illustrate the role of the surfac-tant, he uses this analogy: “After youeat, your dishes have oil on them. If youjust wash them in tap water, they won’t

get clean because oil is not mixablewith water. You need to adddishwashing liquid.” The detergent(i.e., the surfactant) decreases thesurface tension between the oil andwater and disperses the grease in thewater for easy removal.

However, artificial blood presentsother problems. The human body doesnot welcome strangers. Its mononuclearphagocyte system swallows up andultimately removes the intravenouslyadministered colloidal PFC emulsions

from the blood’s circulation. This keepsthe oxygen from reaching cells.

Also, the artificial blood producessome negative side effects, such asflu-like symptoms and a condition thatinvolves a blood platelet deficiency.Peng and other researchers believethis happens when the human body’scleansing system overwhelms andremoves the PFC emulsions.

To lessen the uptake—and subse-quent removal—of PFC emulsions fromthe blood stream, Peng’s group hassynthesized a variety of fluoroalkylatedpolyethylene glycols (PEGs) to act as thesurfactant and prepare PFC emulsions.Artificial blood treated in this manner hasproven significantly more resistant to thebody’s natural efforts to remove it.

Recently, Peng’s group has gone astep further. He and his team havepurified a mouse protein called CD47,which is recombinant and soluble. Theyexamined its ability to reduce the inges-tion of colloidal PFC emulsions by arodent’s macrophages. The resultsshowed that a soluble CD47 protein isable to significantly counteract the inges-tion of PFC emulsions by phagocytes.

Peng hopes that the CD47-associat-ed, biomimetic PFC emulsions producedin his laboratories will last longer in aperson’s circulation, while alleviating thenegative side effects.

So far in the United States, artificialblood has only been used on dogs; theFood and Drug Administration has notyet approved its use on humans.

The potential benefits of Peng’sresearch extend well beyond offsettinga possible shortage in our supply. Whentransfused, human blood has a verysmall but real risk of carrying life-threat-ening infections, such as HIV, hepatitis Band C, or even mad cow disease. Bloodalso has a short shelf life and is unstableat ambient temperatures. Artificial bloodcan solve these problems, and C.-A.Peng’s research group is edging evercloser to fulfilling the quest.

C.-A. Peng, professor of chemical engineering

Blood also has a shortshelf life and is unstableat ambient temperatures.Artificial blood can solvethese problems, and C.-A. Peng’s research groupis edging ever closer tofulfilling the quest.

18 USC ENGINEER

Computer scientist Jeff Rickel, a “rising star”

in the field of artificial intelligence, or AI, died

July 6, of complications from cancer. He was

40 years old.

“Jeff ’s research on interactive virtual

humans was highly influential, and earned

recognition and respect around the world,” said

W. Lewis Johnson, director of the USC Center

for Advanced Research in Technology for

Education at the USC Information Sciences

Institute (ISI).

“His work combined techniques from

artificial intelligence, computer graphics, and

computational linguistics, to create interactive

animated characters, or virtual humans, that

are among the most advanced in the world

today,” Johnson added.

“Jeff was a rising star,” said Norman

Badler, director of the Center for Human

Modeling and Simulation at the University of

Pennsylvania. “He was one of the leaders in a

community of researchers connecting AI

techniques to computer graphics human

models — so-called ‘embodied agents.’

His work was seminal and he will be sorely

missed.”

Rickel was a project leader in the

Intelligent Systems division of ISI and a

research assistant professor at the USC School

of Engineering department of computer

science. He specialized in the design of robotic

“intelligent agents” designed to serve as

instructors for humans.

Perhaps his most striking and best-known

work was his contribution to the “Mission

Rehearsal Exercise” created by the USC

Institute for Creative Technologies.

In this project, artificial intelligence

software actors created by Rickel portray

villagers and military personnel in a war-torn

Bosnian village and interact with a human

trainee in real time in a virtual environment.

Articles about this project appeared

in numerous publications including the

New York Times.

Elisabeth Andre, a project leader at the

German Research Center for Artificial

Intelligence praised Rickel’s work on the

Mission Rehearsal Exercise. “Creating agents

that can take on different roles is a major

accomplishment which has been influential for

later work on interactive storytelling.”

Other Rickel projects included a web

based “Virtual Factory” teaching system for

training, and an electronic tutoring system that

he was developing for the Mitsubishi

Corporation.

“Jeff Rickel’s work was important because

he was able to synthesize insights from a variety

of fields and integrate them into a vision of the

future,” said Justine Cassell, director of the

Gesture and Narrative Language Research

Group at MIT’s Media Laboratory.

“Jeff ’s work had exceptional integrity. If he

said or wrote something, then one knew that

he had read all of the other research about

the topic in the field, researched his own

contribution thoroughly, tested it extensively,

and written it with clarity.”

“But,” said Cassell, “there was something

else about Jeff that was exceptional: he made

you want to be in the same field with him. He

had such generosity of spirit, such genuine

interest in seeing the field move forward, and

such a lack of pettiness or competition, that

I always wanted to get his feedback on my

work, wanted to present papers in his presence,

looked forward to seeing him at conferences.”

“Perhaps Jeff ’s greatest influence was on

his colleagues and students,” said Johnson. “He

was a great collaborator, and carried out much

of his best work as part of multidisciplinary

teams. He cared greatly for his students, and

inspired their love and admiration.”

“Jeff Rickel was very kind to all the staff,

not just the engineers and the bigwigs,” said ISI

receptionist Elizabeth Stergiou. “He always had

a smile on his face and never ever forgot to say

‘hello!’”

Rickel was born March 11, 1963, in

Madison, Wisconsin. His higher education was

in Texas, with degrees in computer science

including a BS from Texas A&M, an MS from

the University of Texas, Dallas; and a Ph.D.

from the University of Texas, Austin in 1995.

He came to USC’s Information Sciences

Institute in 1995, directly from Austin.

Rickel was a resident of Rancho Palos

Verdes. He is survived by his wife, Lynn, and

daughter Chelsea.

A memorial service was held Thursday

July 10 and USC/ISI has established The Jeff

Rickel Memorial Library Fund for the purchase

of books on artificial intelligence. Donation

checks should be payable to USC, and sent

along with a letter indicating that the donation

is intended for the “Jeff Rickel Memorial

Library Fund,” to:

Kathy Kurinsky

USC/ISI, 4676 Admiralty Way

Marina del Rey, CA 90292

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Jeff Rickel

,

,

,

,

,

The USC engineering team is known as one of thetoughest competitors in the international Design/Build/Flycompetition of the American Institute of Aeronautics andAstronautics (AIAA). In the last six years, USC has finishedfirst (1998), second (2002), third (1999), and fourth (2003).

“Design/Build/Fly,” supported by Cessna and theOffice of Naval Research, is intended to promote aero-space engineering and aircraft development in undergrad-uate educational programs. The program has worked wellfor both the School and the program’s sponsors.

Engineering students are in danger of spendingso much time solving problems in class and fulfillingmandatory requirements that they can miss learningabout the real joys that an engineering career offers. TheAIAA contest shows them a side of engineering that closelyresembles what real working engineers do. Working in teams,the student engineers do exactly what the name of the contestimplies. They design an aircraft, build their design and competeagainst other schools.

“Our team is composed primarily of undergraduateengineering students, but other USC students majoring inbiology, business and other disciplines have also participated,”says Ron Blackwelder, professor of the aerospace and mechanicalengineering, who advises the students. He is assisted by two industryadvisors, Mark Page of Swift Engineering and Wyatt Sadler ofAeroVironment Corp. “The only requirements are an interest inaircraft, a desire to design and build and a love of competition.”

The School’s team begins designing the competition plane duringthe fall semester. Freshman and sophomores receive lectures tofamiliarize them with basic aerodynamics during the early part of thesemester while the juniors and seniors are busy with the conceptualand preliminary design. By the end of the semester all students onthe team are participating in the design phase. At a preliminarydesign review, the team presents its ideas to a panel of aeronauticalengineers from industry.

In the fall, the students also practice their in-flight control skillswith last year’s plane, which also serves as a test bed for new ideas.But every year the rules and test objectives in the contest change, sothat every student team has to come up with a completely new design.

For 2003, the students not only had to create an airplane, but theentire plane had to be stored in a box measuring two feet by four feetby one foot. In the competition, the team was timed on how rapidlythey could assemble their plane. After passing a rigorous safety inspec-tion, the plane had to complete two of three specified flight missions:Communications Repeater, Sensor Deployment and Missile RadomeDecoy. The latter mission required the plane to have a radome (a dome-like structure protecting an antenna or other electronics) attached to the

aircraft, greatly increasing its drag. The plane needed to complete fourcontinuous laps for the mission so it had a high difficulty factor.

All of the aircraft are powered by electric motors with batteriesand there is no limit on the number of motors that they can have.However, the total weight of the batteries is limited to five pounds.This requirement, paired with the short stretch allowed for take-off,makes energy management an extremely important consideration.To save weight and increase performance, the students use compositematerials when they start building the plane in the spring semester

Groups of two to four students work on separate componentssuch as the wings, control surfaces, deployment system, power plant,etc. The radio-controlled planes are designed and built for cargohauling and handling. Small groups test sub-components for theplane, such as the deployment system.

The total score for each team is comprised of the flightperformance of their best two flights, the score on a written reportdocumenting their aircraft design and selection, and a “Rated AircraftCost” representing the complexity and manufacturing costs of theirdesign. USC’s 2003 plane, named ‘SCyRaider,’ had the fourth bestflying score and the team produced the second best written report.

Blackwelder says, “our teams have always been strong. Theyhave repeatedly defeated other outstanding teams, including thosefrom MIT, University of Texas, University of Illinois, UCLA, and themilitary academies.”

***http://www.aae.uiuc.edu/aiaadbf/

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USC ENGINEER 19

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High-Flying Engineers

The members of the USC team who made the trip to the competition in Marylandlast April pose with their aircraft. Kneeling in front of plane from left to right areJerry Chen, Billy Kaplan, Cristina Nichitean, George Sechrist, Wyatt Sadler(pilot)and Mark Page (industrial advisor). Kneeling behind the plane are: Jeremy Milneand Andres Figueroa. Standing from left to right: Stephan deMartimprey, TashaDrew, Nathan Palmer(partially hidden), Stephanie Hunt, Stephane Gallet,Shannon Moriarity, Tim Schoen, Jason Randy, Tyler Golightly, Michael Mace,Jennifer Tsakoumakis, Jake Evert, Lester Kang, and Tai Merzel.

The 2002-03 TeamAerospace EngineersTim Bentley/Senior (SR)George Cano/SRJake Evert/Graduate (GR)Andres Figueroa/

Junior (JR)Heidi Fuqua/Freshman (FR)Stephane Gallet/JR

Jackie Gurany/FRJonathan Hartley/JRStephanie

Hunt/Sophomore (SO)Lester Kang/SRBilly Kaplan/SOJohn McArthur/SRTai Merzel/JRJon Mills/JRJeremy Milne/FR

Shannon Moriarty/SOCristina Nichitean/JRNerses Ohanyan/FRDoris Pease/SRArvin Shajanian/FRChristopher Shelner/FRMichael Tamashiro/SRP.J. Winter/JRMechanical EngineersStephan DeMartimprey/JR

Ray Duran/FRCory Edwards/JRTyler Golightly/JRSergio Ibarra/SOAmanda Lim/JRMichael Mace/JRDan Montgomery/JRStephanie Parker/FRJames Parle/JRJason Randy/JR

Tim Schoen/JRJennifer Tsakoumakis/SOElectrical EngineersCarlos Florencio/SORyan Gross/SOJill Swain/SOOther EngineersNick Danziger/UNDC/FRGeorge Sechrist/ISE/SR

20 USC ENGINEER

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High Performance Collaborations M.C. Gill Center for Composite Technologies

Question: What is lighter,

stronger, less expensive

and more heat resistant

than wood or metal?

Answer: Composite materials.

Composite materials are used for a host of

everyday products ranging from aircraft

baggage compartments, pickup truck beds,

bullet proof-vests, wall panels, fishing rods, surf

boards, satellites and lately, electric power lines.

“We are constantly looking for new

technologies to improve fibers, polymers, resins

and foams, and new ways to combine them to

meet ever-higher performance expectations,”

says Steven Nutt, director of the M.C. Gill

Center for Composite Technologies. Nutt is

also a professor of materials science and

holder of the M.C. Gill Chair in Composite

Materials. “We’re trying to exploit the

unique advantages of composite materials

and incorporate them into useful structural

elements.”

The goal of the Gill Center is to address

problems associated with the design,

manufacture and behavior of composite

materials and to train students in composite

technology. The Gill Center acts as a catalyst

for industrial investment and focuses on

problems related to the development of new

high-performance composite materials. Nutt

strives to forge close relations with industry,

particularly in Southern California, as

exemplified by a project that has recently been

in the news.

The Gill Center is working with

Composite Technology Corporation (CTC) of

Irvine, California, on lightweight Aluminum

Conductor Composite Core (ACCC) cables.

CTC is commercializing the cables, which will

allow transmission of up to twice the amount

of electric power as conventional power lines.

The huge power outage that turned off the

lights for more than 50 million people in the

Northeast and the Midwest last August is stark

evidence that the nation’s power grid is in

trouble.

“Electrical power production has been

growing faster than the capacity of the power

grid. Deregulation is adding to the problem

because we’re sending power across greater

distances,” says Nutt. “We need to upgrade the

power grid. The steel-reinforced cables that are

standard today have changed very little in the

past hundred years.”

The ACCC power cables were initially

created by CTC. The Gill Center is testing

and analyzing prototypes in preparation for

full-scale manufacturing. The new cable

consists of a lightweight core of carbon-

and glass-fiber composite surrounded by

aluminum wires through which the electricity

flows. Conventional power lines are made of

aluminum wires wrapped around a core of

steel strands.

Steel has provided the strength to support

power lines, but it does not conduct electricity

very well. The fiber cable cores are lighter and

stronger than steel ones. That allows more

aluminum to be used in the cables, which

means they can transmit more electricity.

“If you can increase the amount of power

that you can transmit in the system by

replacing the cables, then you don’t have to

build as many new towers,” explains Nutt.

“Not only are new towers expensive to build,

but land acquisition and environmental

concerns have become a much greater problem

in recent years.”

The ACCC cables can operate safely at

higher temperatures than conventional power

lines and they are also no larger in diameter.

The size of the cables is important because

wind, rain and ice places enormous pressure

on power lines. The composite lines can

be handled and transported much like

conventional cables, which will facilitate

replacing existing steel cable.

The Gill Center currently has more than

a dozen active projects supported by regional

industry and federal agencies. These projects

involve postdoctoral fellows, graduate

students and undergraduates. In addition

to power lines, projects include synthesis of

high-performance composite foams, sandwich

structure dynamics, self-rigidized composites,

high-temperature composite behavior, laser

machining of composites, polymer nanocom-

posites, metallic foam synthesis, acoustic

sandwich panels and deformation of

nanocrystalline metals.

Nutt is not shy about offering solutions

to vexing problems. He was recently in

the news when he suggested reinforcing

the problematic polyurethane foam

insulation on the space shuttle with fiber

reinforcement.

“The foam in the shuttle has been

purely for insulation and has about half the

density we normally use for structural

foams. A small amount of fiber, about three

to five percent, can increase the strength

significantly,” he says. The National

Aeronautics and Space Administration is

interested in his suggestion and has asked him

to explore his concept for possible use on

future shuttle missions.

Ultra-light fiber-reinforced foams are

polymer materials that are intentionally

porous. Man-made foams are in many ways

modeled after wood, which is a cellular form

of the polymer cellulose. Wood has exceptional

performance characteristics and most plastic

foams don’t come close to matching its

performance. So while wood remains a widely

used structural material, most foams are made

primarily for insulation and packaging.

Nutt is not shy about

offering solutions to vexing

problems. He was recently in

the news when he suggested

reinforcing the problematic

polyurethane foam

insulation on the space shuttle

with fiber reinforcement.

continued on next page

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USC ENGINEER 21

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However, the best plastic foams are the

core materials for sandwich structures which

typically consist of a low-density, thick foam

material sandwiched between two face sheets of

high-strength composite.

The Gill Center invented a new process to

synthesize composite foams from expandable

microspheres. The microspheres and long

fibers are mixed together and then heated until

the mixture expands into composite foam.

The Gill Center’s research indicates that the

properties of the fiber-reinforced foam match

or surpass the properties of leading commercial

foams, such as cellular polyvinyl chloride, or

PVC. Materials like PVC foam are widely used

in transportation vehicles, ships, and wind

energy structures.

The Gill Center was originally funded by a

$7 million gift from Merwyn C. “M.C.” Gill

(BCHE ’37) a Pasadena industrialist. M.C. Gill

started out making composite wall panels in his

garage in 1945 and his company is now the

world’s largest manufacturer of baggage

compartment liners for passenger and freight

aircraft. Among the many projects at the Gill

Center is a collaboration with the M.C. Gill

Corporation to develop fiber-reinforced

phenolic foam.

“These efforts recently led to a technologi-

cal breakthrough that resulted in composite

phenolic foam with superior mechanical

performance and fire resistant properties,”

explains Nutt.

The pioneering work overcame significant

challenges to achieve uniform fiber dispersion

in a highly viscous mixture. When the glass

fibers are properly oriented inside the foam

matrix, the resulting composite foam is

substantially tougher then conventional

phenolic foam. The new material demonstrates

the concept of performance enhancement

through fiber reinforcement of foams.

The technology is being patented, and will

be commercialized by the Gill Corporation for

use in commercial aircraft.

“High performance is a buzzword here,

but we aren’t just pushing for higher and

higher performance,” says Nutt. “We really

want to see new composite materials become

a success in the marketplace. So we try to find

collaborations to make that occur.”

Find more information about the MCGF

Composite Center at

http://www.usc.edu/dept/materials_science/ccr/.

can receive supplemental instruction in

challenging courses such as introductory com-

puter science and electrical engineering. They

are encouraged to take advantage of profes-

sional development programs offered through

the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers,

the National Society of Black Engineers and the

Society of Women Engineers, which have

chapters that operate under the center’s aegis.

Students also have ample opportunities

to meet and work with industry professionals.

The “Shadow an Engineer” program during

spring break enables students to work along-

side an engineering professional for a day,

providing real-life insight into specific fields of

engineering. Annual events such as a corporate

luncheon, “Evening with Industry” and the

end-of-year awards banquet encourage

informal and relaxed interactions between

students and industry representatives.

The center’s Industry Advisory Board

(IAB) plays a leadership role in providing pro-

fessional development opportunities. Company

representatives help students develop important

career skills such as writing effective cover let-

ters and preparing for job interviews. They also

provide leads for internships and corporate

networking opportunities where students can

develop their academic, leadership, teamwork

and social skills. IAB members include Boeing,

Conexant, Exxon Mobil, Hewlett-Packard, Intel,

Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman,

Qualcomm and Raytheon.

“Creating opportunities for students to

develop personal relationships with industry

mentors is a wonderful way for students to see

beyond the rigors of their calculus and physics

courses,” says White. “Our students get to know

individual companies early in their academic

careers, which helps them pinpoint their

professional interests.”

While the Center for Engineering Diversity

has developed successful corporate partnerships

across a wide array of engineering disciplines,

White is eager to expand the range of contacts

she can provide to center participants. “Students

tell me they want a chance to explore engineer-

ing careers in construction, civil engineering,

biotech and biomed,” she says. “We would be

delighted to discuss opportunities for corporate

participation with Engineering alumni working

in these and other fields.”

“Today’s students respond best to hands-

on experience and personal involvement,” says

Yates. “The Center for Engineering Diversity

has played a crucial role in bringing the field

of engineering to life for students, and then

opening doors so that they can pursue success-

ful, significant and satisfying careers,” says

Yates. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

If you would like information on how your

company can become involved with the Center

for Engineering Diversity or its Industry Advisory

Board, please contact Janene White at

(213) 740-1999 or jrwhite@usc.edu. For more

information about the center, visit

www.usc.edu/dept/engineering/esa.

ENGINEERING’S WIN-WIN SITUATION continued from page 9

High Performance Collaborations continued from page 20

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Cultivating the Future

Mark Stevens

The most satisfying part of Mark Stevens’ astonishing success is not the stellar list of high-tech companies that he has

guided through the past decade’s Silicon Valley economic tumult. It’s not all of boards upon which he sits, including the

USC Board of Trustees and the School of Engineering Board of Councilors. It is not a remarkable academic pedigree.

22 USC ENGINEER

Mark StevensDedicatedAlumnus

Fundraiserand VentureCapitalist

But the ThreeMusketeersare Job One

For Stevens, a general partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the nation’s

most successful venture capital firms, success is the colorful clutter of

plastic toys that his twin six-year-olds, Sean and Scott, and 21-month-old

Samantha have strewn around the yard of the Stevens family home

in Atherton.

“They’re the Three Musketeers. The kids are at that stage where life

is a bowl full of cherries. We have a lot of fun together,” he laughs. “The

boys are just starting to ski. We got them on some of the blue runs —

that’s intermediate — when we went to Steamboat Springs last winter.”

At age 43, life has never stopped being a bowl full of cherries for

Mark Stevens. He does not waste more than six or seven hours a night

on sleep. While he says that 95 percent of his waking hours go to Sequoia

and his family, that still leaves time for Oakland Raiders season tickets,

and keeping up with the Dodgers and the Lakers. “I watch too many

games on television. I love college football and basketball,” he admits.

“Much to my wife’s chagrin.” Then he runs to stay in good enough shape

to compete credibly in occasional 10 K races and he hasn’t quite given up

playing in a basketball league. Most important of all, there’s the small life

Cultivating the Future

by Bob Calverley

Stevens has just signed on to co-chair an ambitious seven-yearfundraising initiative for the USC School of Engineering.

USC ENGINEER 23

scover tory

and death matter of Trojan football. He rarely misses a game.

“Busy, busy, busy!” he says. “But I’ve always been well organized.”

That would seem an understatement. Stevens’ wife Mary says her

husband makes a to-do list every day, prioritizes it and then lives by it.

But his meticulous organization results in the Stevens family eating

together four out of five nights a week, so she is a believer.

“He values his time more than anyone I have ever known,” she says.

“He says, ‘you can’t buy time. You can manufacture things, but you can’t

manufacture time.’”

There is still time for more. With San Diego real estate entrepreneur

Daniel Epstein (BSISE ’62), Stevens has just signed on to co-chair an

ambitious seven-year fundraising initiative for the USC School of

Engineering.

“When you really need to get a job done, it’s best to ask someone

who is busy. I’ve asked two of the most able people that I know,” says

Dean C. L. Max Nikias. “Mark is a very

busy person. He’s busy getting things

done. He also understands our School, its

strengths and its needs, and he cares very

much about its future. So does Dan

Epstein.”

Epstein, like Stevens, is both a USC

trustee and a member of the School’s

Board of Councilors.

“Both Mark and Dan epitomize what

it means to be a Trojan. They have both

enjoyed remarkable career success, but

they have still found the time and energy

to dedicate to USC and especially to the

School of Engineering,” says USC

President Steven B. Sample.

Epstein says he found it impossible to say no to the dean, but he did

have one request.

“Max’s enthusiasm is infectious,” he says. “But I told him that if I

was going to get involved in this initiative, then Mark was going to have

to be involved as well.”

The dean holds up a faded page from an old appointment book —

4 p.m. Friday, May 31, 1995 — a crucial meeting for Nikias and for the

School of Engineering. At the time, Nikias was an associate dean leading

the effort to win an engineering research center in multimedia and the

Internet from the National Science Foundation. This was the day he

learned that Mark Stevens was someone upon whom he could depend.

Nikias had spent the entire week in the Silicon Valley visiting high-tech

companies and looking for support for the School’s proposal.

“I was tired and almost canceled the meeting,” remembers Nikias.

“Mark was 35 years old then and very relaxed, wearing athletic shoes. We

went over a lot of companies and he opened doors for us. That was a key

factor in our getting the Integrated Media Systems Center.”

The challenge now is to secure new resources for the USC School

of Engineering at a time when the nation’s and the state’s economy is less

than robust.

“We are a very good school now, but we need new funding to take

the next steps to bring the school to the top two, three or four schools,”

says Epstein.

For Stevens, raising money for the School of Engineering is

remarkably similar to what Sequoia does.

“At Sequoia, we like to say that we finance the future,” he says. “We

are very specialized money managers.”

Roughly every three years, Sequoia raises a new fund and is

currently managing about $2 billion in several funds. A major portion of

those who invest – they’re called limited partners -- are university

endowment funds, including USC. While endowments put most of their

money in stocks and bonds, these large

funds allocate about five percent to the

high-risk, high-return category of venture

capital. Stevens and Sequoia invest these

funds in start-up companies, most of

which fail.

“Usually five or six out of ten

investments fail. We get no money back,

or maybe we get part of our money back,”

he explains. But some companies go

public, or are acquired, and they become

fantastic success stories. Then, Sequoia

makes five, 10 or 20 times its investment.

“It’s like baseball. For every ten at bats,

there are five strikeouts, two or three base

hits or doubles, and one or two home

runs. At Sequoia, we’ve been fortunate to have our share of home runs.”

Sequoia helped start Apple Computer, Cisco, Yahoo and Google,

which is currently preparing to go public. Stevens has been involved

with Nvidia, Pixelworks, MP3.com and many others. He is Sequoia’s

semiconductor specialist. “I’m Mr. Chips at Sequoia.”

While Stevens and the other partners at Sequoia clearly have to

spend considerable time and mental effort in identifying promising

companies with clever ideas, the fundraising part of the work is perhaps

more important. In addition to raising money from limited partners,

they help their companies raise money from other investors. They

also help their companies go public, which is fundraising on an even

grander scale.

“I’m always fundraising and I like doing it,” says Stevens. “You need

to be organized and at the same time creative.”

Looking out across his yard to a vegetable garden in big planter

boxes where he and his children are growing corn, pumpkins, basil,Mar

k St

even

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by M

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Stevens has just signed on to co-chair an ambitious seven-yearfundraising initiative for the USC School of Engineering.

Mark and Mary Stevens with USC Trusteeand Keck Foundation Chairman, Robert Day.

tarragon, squashes, zucchini, bush beans and

tomatoes, Stevens spots an apt comparison.

“Some crops mature very quickly, but with

others it takes years to develop into a fruit

producing tree. Fundraising is like that. It is a

cultivation business.”

For alumni, he wants to appeal to the

pride they have in their school and motivate

them to give back. Presumably, they have

gained knowledge and wisdom while at USC

and used it to build a career.

For people in industry, the key is having

the School do research in areas that will benefit

their companies long-term. Companies depend

on engineering schools for a steady stream of

technically trained and creative employees, and

for technical innovations that lead directly to

profitable products.

“We will always need engineers — to build

and rebuild our infrastructure, to help us

determine how to make things bigger and

better, or quicker and smaller as the case may

be,” says President Sample, who is also on the

faculty of the School of Engineering.

“Engineering and the research it fosters, helps

make our daily lives better.”

To Stevens, the USC School of

Engineering is the eighth ranked company in a

field of approximately 300 engineering schools.

It is a company that needs an influx of capital

to move further up, and it has a strong

potential to successfully make such a move.

It is not a company that is trying to move from

the middle of the group closer to the

front. It is already quite near the

front and sees a chance to break into

the front pack.

“This is a situation where we are seeking

to turn better into best, not average into better,”

he says. “That’s our theme.”

When he travels around the Silicon Valley,

Stevens’ favorite statistic is that undergraduate

freshman SAT scores at the USC School of

Engineering are higher than at Berkeley or

UCLA. That raises eyebrows, but it also gets to

the core of the challenge. Most people don’t

know that the School is ranked as highly as it

is, or that it has been a good school for a long

time. Perceptions, however, are changing.

Stevens has noticed that bright kids in the

Silicon Valley are beginning to get interested in

the USC School of Engineering. The idea that

USC is a highly selective university like

Stanford or Berkeley or Duke is taking hold.

Stevens says that most California high-tech

executives he meets already seem to be

aware that the USC School of Engineering is

very good.

He also sees an engineering school

positioned for success because it has

momentum and a plan for the future that

touches on key areas of innovation. Stevens,

and many others, believe that the world is on

the cusp of three important technology

revolutions. One is information technology,

which is based on an electronics industry that

is already quite mature, having been around for

more than half a century. The next is biotech-

nology, which has emerged relatively recently.

Finally, there is nanotechnology, which is just

beginning to emerge and which is in some

respects a combination of the first two. Since he

cover torys

24 USC ENGINEER

Dean C.L. Max Nikias, President StevenB. Sample, Mark Stevens and Jay Kear(BSME ’60) at an engineering dinner.

Mark Stevens at the 2002 Board of Councilorsmeeting for the Engineering school.

To Stevens, the

USC School of

Engineering is the

eighth ranked

company in a field of

approximately 300

engineering schools.

It is a company that

needs an influx of

capital to move

further up, and it has

a strong potential to

successfully make

such a move. It is not

a company that is

trying to move from

the middle of the

group closer to the

front. It is already

quite near the front

and sees a chance

to break into the

front pack.

Stevens during hisUSC college days.

became dean two years ago, Nikias has

announced initiatives in all three of these areas

and has been recruiting new faculty for them.

To date, he has added 26 tenure track faculty.

(See New Faculty story on page 26)

“The nations that lead those industries

are the nations that will dominate the 21st

century,” says Stevens. “We have to build up the

School of Engineering so that it can be in a

leadership position. Its position will then help

it to develop students and research that address

these three big industries. We have to go out

and get top faculty. We have to attract the top

undergraduate and graduate students. We have

to identify niche research areas were we can

be number one. All of these things take a lot

of money.”

Mark Stevens grew up in Culver City

during the 60’s and 70’s when the Southern

California aerospace industry was building

Cold War machinery. It was a time of space

shots, astronauts and sending men to the

moon. His father was an engineer at

Hughes Aircraft for 38 years. Like most

engineers, the young Stevens started with

an affinity for math and science, but he

has never stopped being an intellectual

gourmet.

“I’ve always been interested in

everything, every academic subject,” he

says. “If you’re in Hollywood, you grow up

around the entertainment business. If

you’re in Texas, you grow up around the

oil or the cattle business. I grew up around

the aerospace business.”

He chose USC because he thought

the engineering school was good and the class

sizes at the private university didn’t seem as

crowded as those in the public schools.

And there was football. During the five fall

semesters that Stevens attended USC, the

Trojans won a national championship, went

to three Rose Bowls and Marcus Allen and

Charles White won Heisman trophies.

“Yes, those were the glory days,” says

Stevens who believes strongly that excellence in

academics and athletics is not only possible,

but highly desirable. “It helps socialize the

greater university and makes the students,

faculty and everyone in the community

feel better. It was true 20 years ago and it’s

true today.”

Stevens was 17 when he began classes at

the School of Engineering in the fall of 1977

and did not turn 18 until his second semester.

He chose chemical engineering until a vision of

working on an oil platform in the middle of the

Gulf of Mexico or the Middle East popped into

his head. He switched to electrical engineering

at the end of his freshman year. In his junior

year he decided he would also major in

economics and get two bachelor degrees.

“Today we encourage kids to get second

majors or minors, but back then it was pretty

weird,” he says. Engineering students could

easily spend the whole day in the quad area and

never venture to other parts of the campus.

Stevens enjoyed going over the College of

Letters, Arts and Sciences for liberal arts classes,

especially economics where he found that his

math background provided an edge. By his

senior year, Stevens was a member of Phi

Kappa Psi fraternity, he was an officer in the

engineering honor societies Eta Kappa Nu

and Tau Beta Pi, and he was working half time

for Hughes.

“I was a busy boy,” he says. He graduated

with his two degrees in four and a half years

and immediately began working fulltime at

Hughes. Within six months, he decided he

didn’t want to be an aerospace engineer for the

rest of his life. So in July 1982, he went to work

for Intel.

“I loved Intel. I was in field sales and that

was right when the PC boom was happening,”

he says. But determined to “round himself

off,” Stevens left Intel in the fall of 1987 to seek

an MBA from Harvard. He went to school

full time, got his degree in June 1989 and

immediately began working as an associate

at Sequoia. Today, he is the only one in his

Harvard class who still works for the same

company that he did when he graduated.

About six months after he started at

Sequoia, a senior partner asked Stevens to work

with a company called QuickLogic. Specifically,

he was asked to help the three founders find

their first office space. Stevens called a Silicon

Valley commercial real estate company to

begin working on the problem. The real estate

company had to deliver a package of

information to Stevens’ office. Neither of the

two real estate people in the office that day

wanted to make the trip, so they played a round

of Roshambo (rock, paper, scissors). The loser,

Mary Mathews, was stuck with the drive across

the Silicon Valley. But in the end there were no

losers in this deal.

“We ended up doing a deal and the

company got their office space. And tenants

were treasured then because there was a

glut of office space,” says Mary Mathews

who became Mary Stevens in October

1992. QuickLogic not only got their first

real estate but also became a successful

investment for Sequoia. A year after his

marriage, Mark Stevens became a general

partner at Sequoia. Mary Stevens left a

real estate career that she truly loved only

to discover that she loved being a stay-at-

home mom even more. Now there are

remodeling projects, a yard full of

toys, children’s pool parties, weekend

jaunts with the Three Musketeers to the

Santa Cruz Boardwalk or the beach

house in Aptos.

“The boys are confused because all of their

friends have Giants caps, but they know their

Dad’s a Dodgers fan. I give them a year or

two before they’re Giants fans too,” says

Mark Stevens.

And that’s just fine with him. But

USC Trojan fandom? That just might be

non-negotiable.

scover tory

USC ENGINEER 25

Dean Nikias, Niki Nikias and Mark Stevens

research eaturef

USC ENGINEERINGSecures Another Engineering Research Center

BMES TAKES AIMAT BLINDNESS,PARALYSIS ANDMEMORY LOSS

26 USC ENGINEER

THE GOAL IS AUDACIOUS.Make the blind see, the paralyzed walk and restore lost memories.

The National Science Foundation has awarded USC its second

Engineering Research Center (ERC), the result of a strong collaboration

between the School of Engineering and the Keck School of Medicine,

with participation from the University of California – Santa Cruz

and Caltech.

The new Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems (BMES) ERC will

develop biologically inspired implantable microelectronic devices

capable of direct communication with tissues to treat presently incurable

human diseases such as blindness, paralysis and memory loss.

“We are only the fourth engineering school in the nation to have

two concurrent, active ERCs (the others are MIT, Georgia Tech and

University of Michigan) and we are the only California school that has

ever won two of them,” says Dean C. L. Max Nikias, adding: “And you

aren’t allowed to have more than two!”

USC’s original ERC is the Integrated Media Systems Center

(IMSC), the only ERC for multimedia and Internet research. The IMSC

was awarded in 1996 and NSF recently renewed funding for its final

five-year term. Before becoming dean, Nikias directed the IMSC and also

led the effort to secure it. USC’s IMSC proposal was judged by NSF to be

the best of a total 117 that were submitted. The proposal for the BMES

ranked first out of 79 and according to NSF was one the best proposals

they have received in recent years.

“This is a very broad interdisciplinary endeavor,” says Stephen J.

Ryan, Dean of the Keck School of Medicine. “Not only was it a huge

joint effort between the Keck School and Engineering, but Caltech and

UC-Santa Cruz are contributing unique and significant expertise. We at

the Keck School are especially proud of Mark Humayun, who will be

directing the new ERC. His background as an M.D., a retinal surgeon

and an engineer are illustrative of this entire collaboration.”

The purpose of ERCs is to dramatically advance research on new

technologies in areas that are deemed important to society. ERCs are

not only expected to educate young engineers in the critical new

technologies, but to rapidly commercialize the innovations so that

society can reap the benefits quickly.

“We already have support from more than 30 companies,” says

Nikias. “With the Alfred Mann Institute’s reach into Southern

California’s very active medical device industry, I am not surprised that

NSF picked us as the ideal location for this new center.”

“There is such a profound amount of knowledge on microelectron-

ic devices here. We think we can all get together and do something

collectively that we couldn’t do individually,” says Humayun.

The centers are also encouraged to have strong community

outreach programs. When the editors of Time magazine and the

Princeton Review chose USC as its “College of the Year” in 2000, they

cited the university’s bonds with local schools, community residents,

police, businesses and community organizations, and noted that both

the neighborhood and the university had benefited from USC’s

enlightened self-interest.

The BMES will leverage three of USC’s hottest biomedical projects.

Humayun is leading a project at Keck’s Doheny Retina Institute to

develop an intraocular retinal prosthesis, which he helped invent. He and

his team have already provided a semblance of sight to three patients

employing a complex multi-step procedure.

First, an implantable chronic stimulator case, which holds all the

electronics for the prosthesis, is placed behind the patient’s ear and

wires are run under the skin to the eye. Next, a delicate array with 16

The intraocular retinalprosthesis consists of 16

electrodes arrayed ona 4-by-4 grid; these

electrodes are stimulatedby digitized images

transmitted to the devicefrom a camera mounted

on a pair of glasses.The electrodes, in turn,stimulate the patient’s

remaining retinal neurons.

by Bob Calverley

research eaturefelectrodes arranged in a 4-by-4 grid is inserted into the eye itself and

attached to the retina. When this receiver is in place, a sliver of silicone

and platinum is implanted using a novel surgical approach and

custom-built instrumentation.

The prosthesis works by taking over the job of cells damaged by

degenerative eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa or macular

degeneration. The electrodes in the array are stimulated by an incoming

image and they, in turn, stimulate the patient’s remaining retinal cells.

The information travels via the optic nerve to the vision centers of the

brain to create a representation of the image.

At first, the images were transmitted to the patients with a

computer. Now, a tiny camera mounted on shaded glasses transmits

a digital signal to the radio receiver mounted behind the ear. From there

the signal goes to the device itself, where it “lights up” electrodes and

stimulates remaining retinal neurons. Future generations of the

prosthesis will have a greater number of electrodes and other

refinements.

“The key,” says Humayun, “is getting to understand the stimulation

of the retina better. Right now, the amount of electrical energy it takes

to activate the retina forces us to make a device that may not give fine

perception.”

Humayun’s device is loosely based on the cochlear implant, which

has restored hearing to more than 100,000 deaf patients. That device uses

just six electrodes to replace the 30,000 nerve fibers in the auditory nerve.

Gerald Loeb, who like Humayun is a physician and a professor of

biomedical engineering, helped develop the cochlear implant and is now

conducting clinical trials of the BION, an injectable neuromuscular

stimulator. Loeb will be the deputy director of the BMES ERC and his

BION project is a centerpiece of the research agenda. The BION — short

for bionic neuron — is the size of two grains of rice and is made in a

cleanroom on the USC campus.

During the past three years, Loeb has injected approximately 32

BIONs into the paralyzed muscles of about 20 patients in the U.S.,

Canada and Italy to treat disorders ranging from stroke to arthritis to

incontinence. The BIONs are able to re-animate paralyzed muscles

through electrical stimulation. Each BION receives power and digital

command data from an external RF (radio frequency) coil. The devices

do not contain batteries that can run down and they are relatively

inexpensive to produce. The next generation model currently under

development will sense muscle length, limb acceleration and bioelectric

potentials for better control of the electrical simulation.

“At USC we’re concentrating on the actual testbeds of these

devices, the actual applications of the devices and the assembly of the

technologies into functional prosthetics,” says Loeb. “One of the things

we’re trying to take advantage of is the very strong industry in Southern

California in medical devices and diagnostics.”

The BION, the retinal prosthesis and the cochlear implant, which

inspired both, all work by stimulating nerve cells. Theodore Berger,

professor of biomedical engineering and director of the School of

Engineering’s Center for Neural Engineering, heads a project to create

a silicon chip implant that would take over the function of neurons that

have been lost to disease or injury.

Specifically, Berger and his team are probing the secrets of the

hippocampus, a cashew-shaped portion

of the brain that plays a crucial role in

learning and memory. With live slices

taken from rat brains, his team has been

painstakingly unraveling the hippocam-

pus’ electrical signals, mathematically

modeling them and designing chips to

mimic the function of those neurons.

The team has made chips that could

replace about 20 neurons and devices that

would fill in for 10,000 neurons are in the

design stage.

Meanwhile, other researchers on

the team have designed, fabricated and

tested an interface device consisting of

intricate array of electrodes that is

precisely shaped to conform to the

unique cellular architecture of the

hippocampus. The array has been

connected to live rat hippocampal slices

and is being used to stimulate and record

electrophysiological activity.

Berger is still some distance from

actually implanting one of his chips in a

human. But he is planning primate tests

and the idea of implanting a brain chip

no longer seems as fanciful as it once did.

Furthermore, his research mimicking

the hippocampus’ electrical activity and

the interface technology would appear to

be applicable to the retinal prosthesis and

the BION projects.

“This is a very critical time for the

convergence of all these disciplines, to be

finally be able to cross the threshold and

produce these kinds of medical devices,”

says Berger about the new ERC. “These

are things that will reach out to the

public and change their lives.”

Nikias notes that the potential

benefit to society from the BMES is not

only improvements in the quality of life

for many people, but there will be

financial benefits as well.

“If we helped 20,000 blind patients over the next two decades, we

could save about four billion dollars in the federal budget,” he explains.

“Newer generation BIONs could accelerate rehabilitation and reduce

disability in the 590,000 stroke survivors, and the 11,000 new patients

with spinal cord injuries we have each year.”

Audacious goals they may be. But as ERC director Humayun

puts it, “We want to make disruptive rather than incremental advances

in technology.” An aggressive objective the will undoubtedly yield

bold results.

USC ENGINEER 27

Mark Humayun

Gerald Loeb

Theodore Berger

Loeb

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Serv

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The School of Engineering has expandedconsiderably, having hired 26 tenure-trackfaculty over the past two years. Whileother colleges struggled with governmentcutbacks and shrinking endowments,USC Engineering forged ahead andexperienced impressive growth.

The School’s expansion since 2001 isunprecedented in its history and rareeven among top universities in recentyears. The School’s strategic plan over thenext 10 years is to increase the numberof tenure-track faculty by 60, and DeanC. L. Max Nikias is nearly halfway there.

The expansion started out lookingmore like a contraction when Nikias tookover as dean in July 2001. Facing someof the same problems as his counterpartsall over the country, he declared a six-month budget freeze and began amassive reorganization of the School.The reorganization focused on reducingadministration in the School andredirecting resources to faculty.

It worked. At the end of those sixmonths, the School’s reserves werehealthy enough to provide start-uppackages for several new hires. After

rewarding existing faculty with a one-time salary adjustment and a year-endraise, averaging about nine percent intotal, the School was off and hiring.Spectacular enrollment growth in gradu-ate programs, particularly those availablethrough the Distance Education Network(DEN), provided additional resources, asdid ongoing fundraising efforts that havebrought in $70 million since 2001.

“We’ve got the money to beextremely competitive, and securingtop-tier faculty has been our priority,”the dean says. “At a time when every-body else is facing the squeeze, either tostay at the size they are or to downsize,we are in a growth mode.”

He predicts that by the next decade,the years 2001-03 will be recognized asa period when USC Engineering tookanother big jump forward. Departmentchairs agree they are seeing a significantincrease in the quality of the facultyapplicant pool.

Conversely, in his position as thefinal interviewer, Nikias talked to about135 applicants, every one of whommentioned USC’s current eighth-place

rank in the U.S. News & World Reportsurvey of graduate engineering schools.

Not that a top-10 ranking in amagazine is all you need to attract theright researchers. School faculty talked uppositions at conferences and other eventsin the engineering community. Nikiaspersonally wrote to the top 30 faculty ineach engineering discipline, as ranked byUSC Engineering faculty, asking them torecommend promising candidates. Andif the right candidate still did notmaterialize, the School simply waited.

“We don’t have openings, and I don’tallocate positions,” Nikias says. “Weidentify critical areas where we want torecruit faculty and then I authorize search-es in those areas. But if we don’t find atruly top-notch person in that area…wemay try again the following year.”

More important than how topfaculty were hired is why. Simply put,faculty are the nutrients of the bodyacademic. In a growing body, foodprovides the energy for expansion.As the body grows, it requires morenutrients, which in turn helps the bodydevelop further, and so on to maturity.

28 USC ENGINEER

by Carl Marziali

Aggressive Recruiting: 26 New Faces Among The Faculty

Aggressive Recruiting: 26 New Faces Among The Faculty

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In a growing academic body, topnew faculty conduct important research,raising the School’s reputation. As theSchool’s reputation rises, higher qualitystudents seek an opportunity to learnfrom the School’s faculty. When theygraduate, those students attract superioremployment offers. As friends andalumni of the school notice the increasein quality, they in turn increase theirsupport…as do granting agencies,

foundations and corpora-tions. As resources pourin, the School is able toattract more top faculty,thereby attracting morequality students, and soforth in an upward spiralof success.

When he becamedean, Nikias focusedhis hiring on two majorinitiatives: informationtechnology and biomed-ical technology. A $10million gift from Daniel J.Epstein (BSISE ’62), a USCtrustee and member ofthe School’s Board ofCouncilors, provided addi-tional resources for thenewly renamed EpsteinDepartment of Industrialand Systems Engineering.The dean’s latest focus willbe the department ofaerospace and mechanicalengineering, which has anew chair this year.

The School also made a specialeffort to locate candidates fromunder-represented groups, extendingseveral offers to female and minoritycandidates. The candidates whoaccepted include four women and onemale of Hispanic descent. But 15 offerswere made to excellent women andminority candidates.

“We had five who accepted, thus ouryield rate was 30 percent,” the dean says.“We want to do better in the future.”

The drive to hire more tenure-trackfaculty is only part of the School’s expan-sion. For every tenure-eligible academic,the School has added two new researchprofessors, adjuncts or lecturers.

RESEARCH PROFESSORSPaul Debevec is a research assistantprofessor who created the special effectstechnology used in the first Matrixmovie. Laura Marcu is a researchassociate professor of biomedicalengineering, working on molecularimaging. Ann Chervenak, a researchassistant professor of computer science,is working on grid computing at theInformation Sciences Institute.Jennifer Swift is a research assistantprofessor specializing in earthquakeengineering in civil engineering.

Of the new tenure-track faculty, 11 aretenured professors. These senior facultymembers have the following specialties:

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYRajiv Kalia, Aiichiro Nakano andPriya Vashista together head one ofthe world’s leading supercomputinggroups, specializing in advancedcomputational simulations. Recruitedjointly by USC Engineering and theCollege of Letters, Arts & Sciences, theresearchers came to USC from Louisiana

USC ENGINEER 29

“We don’t have openings, and I don’t allocate positions,” Nikias says.“We identify critical areas where we want to recruit faculty andthen I authorize searches in those areas. But if we don’t find a trulytop-notch person in that area we may try again the following year.”

Left (l to r): Qiyin Fang,Ph.D, Cedars-Sinai postdocfellow, Biophotonics;Yinghua Sun, Ph.D student,Material Sciences; SarahSalemi, graduate student,Physics; Laura Marcu,associate professor.

Left (left to right);BhaskarKrishnamachari;KonstantinosPsounis, MichaelKassner, MariaYang, HossienHashemi

Below; JenniferSwift, assistantprofessor.

State University, which they had joinedfrom Argonne National Laboratory. Allthree have joint appointments in theSchool and the College. The professorsbrought with them seven post-doctoralresearchers, 10 graduate students and asystems manager. Though the researchgroup has a 166-node supercomputer,it also plans to work with the 320-nodesupercomputer at the USC Center forHigh-Performance Computing andCommunications. The group hasdeveloped software to visualize billionsof atoms of material at once, allowingsimulations of formerly nebulousprocesses. The main goal has been toachieve greater strength in ceramicmaterials and greater speed in electronicdevices, but the research has widerapplications in nanotechnology,materials, molecular biology, pharmacol-ogy and bioengineered systems.

“We put USC on the map in thearea of high-performance computing.It’s an expertise that as a university wedidn’t have,” says Nikias.

Cauligi S. Raghavendrais a professor of electrical engineering,formerly with the AerospaceCorporation. He is also the new chair ofElectrical Engineering – Systems.Raghavendra’s current research focuseson wireless and sensor networks, energy-efficient algorithms and protocols andactive networks. He is conducting pio-neering work in the area of power-awareprotocols for wireless communications.

Leana Golubchik is associateprofessor of computer science. Previouslyshe was at the University of Maryland

and Columbia University.Golubchik directs the InternetMultimedia Laboratory at USCand is an expert in Internet-based computing, multimediasystems and computer systemsmodeling and performanceevaluation. She is a winner ofthe National ScienceFoundation Career Award, theIBM Doctoral Fellowship andthe NSF Doctoral Fellowship.At USC, Golubchik designedthe new masters program in

computer science with a specialization insecurity, one of the nation’s first. She willteach core courses in the program,offered remotely through DEN, startingthis fall.

Ramesh Govindan, associateprofessor of computer science, is oneof the world’s leading authorities oncommunication networks. He developedseveral software systems, includingInternet route flap dampening, E-BGPRoute Server software and the MercatorInternet mapping tool, which are used inthe Internet today. He is the director ofUSC’s Embedded Networks Laboratoryand co-principal investigator on the NSF-sponsored Center for EmbeddedNetworked Sensing.

Sven Koenig is an associateprofessor of computer science, formerlyat Georgia Tech. His research centers onways to enable situated agents (such asrobots or decision-support systems) tobehave intelligently in their environmentsin real time, even when they haveincomplete knowledge of their surround-ings, imperfect abilities to manipulatetheir environment, limited perception orinsufficient reasoning speed. Koenig is awinner of the NSF Career Award and anIBM Faculty Partnership Award.

Milind Tambe is an associateprofessor of computer science and hasbeen the principal investigator or co-PIin research grants totaling $7 million.His research interests include multiagentsystems, specifically multiagent team-work, agent-human interactions anddistributed negotiations. He won the2002 Best Paper award at the

International Joint Conference onAutonomous Agents and Multiagentsand has been a trustee of the RoboCupRobot Soccer Federation.

BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGYNorberto M. Grzywacz, professorof biomedical engineering, was formerlyat the Smith-Kettlewell Eye ResearchInstitute in San Francisco. His researchinvolves combining experimentaltechniques with computational modelingto study visual perception and neuralprocessing in the retina. A “key seniorfaculty,” according to Nikias, Grzywaczheads the Visual Processing Laboratoryand directs USC’s new Center for VisionScience and Technology.

K. Kirk Shung, professor ofbiomedical engineering, has earnedthe nickname “Mr. Ultrasound” in 30years of groundbreaking research inbiomedical ultrasound technology.Internationally recognized as one of thetop five researchers in the field, Shungcame to the School from Penn State,bringing with him the UltrasonicTransducer Research Center. UTRC is thenation’s only center for the developmentof ultrasonic transducer/array technologyfor medical diagnostics. The first 30 MhZtransducer/array was created in Shung’slaboratory. Shung also brings with himfive graduate students, four researchstaff, an engineer and a technician.

AEROSPACE AND MECHANICALENGINEERINGMichael Kassner, professor ofmechanical engineering and materialsciences, is the new chair of thedepartment of aerospace and mechanicalengineering. He was formerly at OregonState University and at LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory. Kassner ispursuing research on creep, fracture,fatigue and thermodynamics. Hisresearch is supported by grants from NSF,the Basic Energy Sciences of theDepartment of Energy and LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory. “MichaelKassner is truly a leader,” says Nikias,adding that USC plans to hire additionalfaculty for AME in the near future.

30 USC ENGINEER

Rajiv Kalia, Aiichiro Nakano and Priya Vashista

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faculty eaturefASSISTANT PROFESSORSTodd BrunAssistant Professor,Electrical Engineering – SystemsQuantum computing and quantuminformation theoryPh.D. Physics ’94, Caltech

Elaine ChewAssistant Professor,Daniel J. EpsteinDepartment of Industrialand Systems Engineering Computational modelsfor musical designPh.D. Operations Research‘00, MIT

Hossein HashemiAssistant Professor,Electrical EngineeringNanotechnologyPh.D. Electrical Engineering’03, Caltech

Tzung HsiaiAssistant Professor,Biomedical Engineering/Cardiovascular MedicineDiagnostic micro- andnano-sensors for fundamentalcardiovascular researchPh.D. Biomedical Engineering ’01, UCLA;M.D. ’93, University of Chicago

David KempeAssistant Professor, Computer ScienceRandomized and graph algorithmsand decentralized communication protocolsPh.D. Computer Science ’03,Cornell University

Bhaskar KrishnamachariAssistant Professor, Electrical Engineering,Computer ScienceFundamental principles and the analysisand design of protocols for next-generationwireless sensor networksPh.D. Electrical Engineering ’02,Cornell University

C. Ted LeeAssistant Professor, Chemical EngineeringResponsive surfactant systems (systemstunable through manipulation of an externalvariable, allowing nano-level control ofsurfactant structure)Ph.D. Chemical Engineering ‘00,University of Texas

Krishna NayakAssistant Professor, Electrical EngineeringRapid magnetic resonance imaging, medicalimage acquisition and reconstructionPh.D. Electrical Engineering ’01,Stanford University

Michael NeelyAssistant Professor, Electrical EngineeringAnalysis and control of data networks withapplications to satellite and wireless systemsPh.D. Electrical Engineering ’03, MIT

Fernando Ordóñez Assistant Professor, Daniel J.Epstein Department of Industrialand Systems EngineeringOptimization algorithms,high-performance computing,applications of optimizationPh.D. Operations Research ’02, MIT

Banu Özden Assistant Professor, Computer ScienceGeneral systems, including operatingsystems, storage networking and systems,multimedia systemsPh.D. Computer Engineering ’95,University of Texas

Konstantinos PsounisAssistant Professor,Electrical Engineering – SystemsNetworking solutions basedon probabilistic methodsPh.D. Electrical Engineering ’02,Stanford University

Pin WangAssistant Professor, Chemical EngineeringBiosynthetic methods for engineering novelproteins for applications in human health,specifically glycobiology, molecular medicine,tissue engineering, and gene deliveryPh.D. Chemical Engineering ’03, Caltech

Maria YangAssistant Professor, Daniel J. EpsteinDepartment of Industrial andSystems EngineeringInformation technology for facilitatingthe design and manufacturing processPh.D. Mechanical Engineering ’00,Stanford University

Jesse YenAssistant Professor,Biomedical EngineeringDevelopment of novel diagnostic ultrasoundsystems and ultrasonic/array transducersPh.D. Biomedical Engineering ’03,Duke University

USC ENGINEER 31

Assistant Professors Todd Brun and Fernando Ordóñez

Ozden Debevec Draper Wang Verduyn Govindan Shung Fine Tae-Seong

Jihie Neely Chew

The academic plates of engineering

undergraduate students are truly full.

Students juggle thermodynamics with

calculus, and chemistry with computational

methods, hoping to cram their required

courses into a mere eight semesters. This leaves

little room for free units-dessert. You might

think there is no time for a semester abroad.

But you would be wrong. Engineering

students can have their dessert and eat it too.

The School currently offers a summer

overseas program, a chance for engineering

students to venture abroad and still take

courses that fulfill their academic requirements.

This past summer, 22 students, three teachers,

two administrators and one teacher’s assistant

trekked to Madrid, squeezing Spanish courses

and museum trips into the students’ already

busy curriculum.

The program actually has a considerable

history, having debuted in 1981 with a session

in Madrid. It took an eight-year hiatus, then

returned in 1989 and has been held every other

year, alternating between London and Paris.

The program’s academic offerings have

expanded significantly. In 1981, it offered one

class and an internship; in 2003, it expanded to

four classes, including three upper-division

courses in the engineering curriculum. These

courses are taught by USC faculty and fulfill

graduation requirements for the School’s

various engineering majors.

“This means students can participate

in an abroad experience without pushing their

graduation date back,” says Krupa Savalia, a

sophomore from West Orange, New Jersey,

studying biomedical/biochemical engineering.

In the most recent session, the program

saw the largest number of participants in its

history, and the School now hopes to offer the

program every year while expanding the list of

overseas options. Next summer, students will

again head to Paris. Rome remains on the

program’s radar screen as a future study

destination.

To coordinate this program, the School

partners with Accent International, an

international education organization that

works with more than 50 American colleges

and universities. Accent helps organize

study-abroad programs and provides reliable

housing and computer facilities, as well as

helpful advice and guidance for students.

This support is key, since the students’

schedule can be intense. “Classes are extremely

fast-paced,” says senior Christine Keushguerian,

an environmental engineering major. “The

same amount of material taught in the 15-week

semester is covered in just six weeks.”

She adds, “The time constraint was a

major challenge. When faced with the decision

to finish a thermodynamics problem or view

the collection of Salvador Dali’s masterpieces

at the Reina Sofia, which would you choose?”

However, the bond that students and

faculty develop balances this intensity. Classes

are small, and this past summer’s participants

made a number of excursions, including trips

to Seville, Granada, Segovia and Cordova.

“You get to know people much better,”

says Geoff Shiflett, associate professor of

aerospace and mechanical engineering, who

has taught the thermodynamics course during

the past three overseas sessions.

“I don’t usually go out to lunch or ride a

bus for six hours with students,” adds Steve

Bucher, who taught an advanced undergradu-

ate writing class this past summer. “When

you’re on a bus for six hours at a time, it’s hard

not to bond.”

This camaraderie energized program

participants. “The students and teachers shared

dinners, outings, overnight trips, excursions

and the excitement of a foreign environment,”

Keushguerian says.

“We fought through the same language

and custom barriers,” adds Jason Chan, a

junior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Back home in the United States, students

reflected on their experience in Madrid,

preparing papers for Bucher’s writing class, a

required course for engineers. Many students

said they look at their field in a new light, and

32 USC ENGINEER

Spanish ⁄‚⁄by Christian Camozzi

Engineering Undergrads Explore Europe

USC ENGINEER 33

feducation eature

each seems eager to develop into a global

engineer, described by junior Ammar Chinoy

as “an engineer that, culturally speaking,

transcends geographical boundaries.”

Chan, who plans to attend law school with

his engineering degree, agrees. “With engineer-

ing being such a global profession, there is a

great need for students to experience other

cultures. As future engineers, we may need to

coordinate tasks or projects with companies or

clients based in other countries. Or we may

find ourselves working for large international

companies that need engineers who are able to

work in different locations around the world.”

An international student from Pakistan,

Chinoy adds, “I realize the important role that

cultural immersion plays in structuring a

global engineer.” He believes a study-abroad

experience makes students “more versatile and

universal in nature.”

As he sees it, this change comes as students

understand and adapt to cultural differences.

“Adaptation essentially eliminates further

culture shock,” he says, “and results in the devel-

opment of an able and truly global engineer.”

Resoundingly, the returning students

appreciate the value of their experience and the

power of their broadened perspectives. They

are quick to connect it to the professional work

they will do in the future.

For many of the students, this was their

first trip outside of the United States, and their

time in Madrid made them more aware of their

own cultural identities. Suddenly, they were

foreigners.

“Living my whole life in a small suburb 12

miles away from USC, I have always had the

luxury of going home whenever I pleased,” says

Keushguerian. “Being away from family and

friends for a substantial period of time has

given me a stronger sense of independence and

responsibility.”

But that does not mean she didn’t face

challenges along the way. “Studying abroad is

all about the frustration of miscommunica-

tion,” she admits. “It’s about the need to play

charades when buying nail polish remover and

pointing at fruit you don’t know the name of.”

Chinoy, however, sees a payoff for all the

frustration. “The program allows engineers to

adapt to a different culture and become more

open-minded, creative and well-rounded

individuals.”

He jokes about the stereotypes Americans

have about Spanish culture. “When visiting

Spain, you learn that the country has more to

offer than bulls, flamenco, sangria and siestas.”

But perhaps the main difference students

discovered between American and Spanish

culture had to do with energy conservation.

As Chinoy explains, “Europe in general and

Spain in particular, prioritize conservation in

terms of reduced consumption. Spanish electri-

cal, transport and telecommunication systems

are all influenced by this quest for efficiency.

“The lack of air conditioning, time-con-

trolled lights and smaller vehicles are all

elements of Spanish culture that Americans

are not entirely acquainted with.”

Senior Jennifer McLean, an environmental

engineering major, agrees: “The entire city of

Madrid has been designed to save energy and

increase efficiency wherever possible.”

Chan adds, “The streets of America,

especially Los Angeles, are a stark contrast to

those of Madrid, and those of Europe as a

whole. Large sedans and SUVs don’t dominate

Madrid’s roads. Instead, highly fuel-efficient

subcompacts seem to be the automobile

of choice.”

In recognizing these differences, students

can see how their professional work as engi-

neers will be culturally specific. They see the

importance of being mindful of people’s cul-

ture as they carry out their work. In a very real

way, they understand that the concepts they

learn will touch people’s lives, and that their

work is closely tied to the world around them.

After all, as Savalia put it, “Engineering

affects everyone, no matter where they live, and

is ultimately a means of serving humanity.”

Christian Camozzi’s article was based on

stories written by program participants Jason

Chan, Ammar Chinoy, Christine Keushguerian

and Krupa Savalia for their engineering

writing class.

“Throughout the six weeks, I was able to

discuss aqueduct architecture with a native

of Segovia, raise doubts about the supposed

remains of Christopher Columbus at the

cathedral in Seville, have an interesting

conversation with a local professional about

the aeronautical industry in Spain, and

bargain with local vendors. Engineering

today is not just based on science and

mathematics. It is a much more diverse and

well-rounded field that requires genuine

cultural understanding.”

Gustavo Buenrostro is in his third year major-ing in aerospace engineering. His post-gradu-ate plans include pursuing a masters degree inaerospace engineering at USC and working fora Los Angeles-based aerospace company.

“As an environmental engineering major,I found the attitude of Madrileños, andEuropeans in general, toward efficiencyand conservation to be very interesting.The entire city of Madrid has been designedto save energy and increase efficiencywherever it is possible. For example, lightsin hallways and other common areas inbuildings are set to timers so that lights arenot left on to waste electricity.”

Jennifer McLean is majoring in environmentalengineering and is in her last year at USC.

“The same amount of material taught in the 15-week semester is covered in just six weeks.”

thot opic

Rock and Roll EngineeringErik Johnson, assistant professor of civilengineering in the School of Engineeringis a structural engineer, but his computerscience skills played a crucial role in thesuccess of a history-making experimentthis past summer.

As scientists across the countrylooked on, an artificial earthquake shooka building that was, itself, only half-real.

Part of the structure was convention-al steel: full-sized structural supportcolumns sitting in laboratories at theUniversity of Colorado and the Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But athird support column — and the floorthat rested on them, forming a typicalone-story, modern steel-frame building— existed solely in software.

They were simulations, created bygrid-linked machines at the NationalCenter for Supercomputing Applicationsin Illinois and elsewhere. Physical stresseson the real columns, hundreds of milesapart, produced a set of digital signalsthat interacted with the virtual structure.

The result was a realistic representa-tion of the effects of an earthquake,creating a profusion of real-time data —video images and records of stress andmovement — that were distributed byhigh-bandwidth connections toresearchers in dozens of locations fromNational Science Foundation (NSF)headquarters in Washington, D.C. toCalifornia.

“This represents a new way ofconducting earthquake engineeringexperiments,” says Carl Kesselman(MSEE ’84), director of the Center forGrid Technologies at the School’sInformation Sciences Institute.

Kesselman’s Grid center co-createdthe “middleware” that allowed theexperiment to proceed across continentaldistances, through Java interfaces. But itwas Johnson who bridged the gapbetween Java and the Matlab computer

language used byengineers.

Johnson’s softwareand the experimentfunctioned as designed.

“On a scale of 10,I would say it was a9.5,” says Johnson,adding that the projecthad gone almostcompletely as planned.The only glitch was anetwork outage thatcut the five-hourexperiment about 10minutes short. Anotherexperiment is plannedearly next year.

The exercise was the first full-scale,multi-site virtual temblor for NEESgrid, aresource that helps engineers examinethe effects of earthquakes on structures.NEESgrid is a consortium of institutionsthat includes USC, the Argonne NationalLaboratory and the University ofMichigan. It is part of the George E.Brown, Jr. Network for EarthquakeEngineering Simulation project. Inaddition to the National SupercomputingCenter, participants include the

University of Illinois Mid-AmericaEarthquake Center and the University ofIllinois’ civil engineering department.

“The goal is to create a collaborativeresearch network by linking researchers

and engineering testing facilities acrossthe United States, and providing themwith the latest computational tools,”says Priscilla Nelson, who was NSFdivision director for civil and mechanicalsystems at the time NEESGrid wascreated in August 2001. “We expectthis network to speed the simulations,experiments and data analysis thatlead to better seismic design and hazardmitigation.”

Erik Johnson

The exercise was the first full-scale, multi-site virtualtemblor for NEESgrid, a resource that helps engineersexamine the effects of earthquakes on structures.NEESgrid is a consortium of institutions that includesUSC, the Argonne National Laboratory and theUniversity of Michigan.

34 USC ENGINEER

Givingto the Future

The School of Engineering’s David M. Wilson Associates EndowedScholarship Fund has received a generous bequest of nearly $190,000

from the estate of the late Rossiter Lawrence White (BSCE ’40).

Rossiter White, known as “Ross” to his friends and co-workers, was a licensed civilengineer and structural engineer who served in the Army Corps of Engineers duringWorld War II. After leaving the service he began a lifelong career with the PowerDivision of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.

As a member of the DWP’s Station Design Group, White designed the structuralaspects of the county’s electrical distribution systems. His largest project was thestructural design of the powerhouse and surge chamber for the Castaic HydroelectricPower Project, which was a major component of the California Water Project. He alsonotably worked on several large bridge projects in the Inland Empire.

White’s fellow engineers at the DWP remember him as a “sharp, fast designer” andan “engineer’s engineer” whose technical skills and professionalism earned therespect of all who worked with him. He was an avid reader who built an extensivebook collection, and was also an adventurous worldwide traveler.

During his years at USC, White studied with legendary professor David M. Wilson,who mentored and assisted countless students from the 1930s through the 1950s,often drawing from his personal funds to aid students in need. In 1959, theUniversity recognized Professor Wilson’s untiring devotion to the Schoolof Engineering and his civil engineering students by establishing theDavid M. Wilson Associates Endowed Scholarship Fund, which providescritical support to undergraduate students in civil/environmental engineering at USC.

It is fitting that Ross White, a man who himself served as mentor and “father figure”to many young people throughout his own career and life, would make a bequestthat both honors a beloved professor, and supports undergraduate engineeringstudents. Through this gift, new generations of civil and environmental engineeringstudents will benefit from the generous spirit of these two Trojan engineers, each ofwhom helped pave a path to the future in their own unique way.

Givingto the Future

If you would like more information about the David M. Wilson Associates Endowed Scholarship Fundor about making a bequest gift to the USC School of Engineering, please contact the

Office of External Relations at 213/740-2502.

Rossiter L. White

Bruce Matthews, BSISE ’83All American Student, All American Athlete, NFL Legend–– He Knows the Formula for Success

Bruce Matthews (BSISE ’83) was known as the

National Football League’s “iron giant” and

even the “bionic man” during an extraordinary

19-year career as an offensive lineman with the

Tennessee Titans (formerly the Houston

Oilers). Until he retired, he held the NFL’s

longest active

streak for games

played at 184

and the most

consecutive

starts at 181. He

was selected for

the Pro Bowl 11

consecutive

seasons at two

different

positions (seven

as guard and

four as center). Only two other players, Reggie

White (13) and Jerry Rice (12) have been

named to more.

While it’s true that he’s big — 6’5”, 305

pounds — he was admired as much for brains

as brawn.

“During my early years in pro football,” he

says, “I was all raw physical energy. But as I

gained knowledge and experience, I could play

smarter. This was a great help as I grew older

and had less energy, in a profession where the

typical NFL career lasts less than four years.”

Matthews honed his athletic skills at USC,

blocking for Heisman Trophy winners Charles

White and Marcus Allen, and was selected for

both the All-American and all-PAC-10 teams.

He was snapped up by the Houston Oilers

during the first round of the NFL’s 1983 draft,

and went on to play in 296 games with the

Oilers/Titans – more than any other offensive

lineman in NFL history.

At USC, Matthews made a good impres-

sion on and off the field. “Bruce was a BMOC

[Big Man on Campus], but you’d never know it

from the way he behaved,” says ISE Professor

Jerry Fleisher, who recalls Matthews with great

fondness. “He was very down-to-

earth and modest. He took every

engineering course on schedule,

attended every class, and never asked for

special treatment or time off as a football player

— yet he still graduated in four years, as a

strong B student. And he earned those Bs — he

took all the difficult courses. I’m convinced he

would have been an A student if he hadn’t

played football.”

Matthews modestly downplays his

academic prowess. “You know, I think playing

football actually helped my grades,” he says.

My GPA was always higher in the Fall, during

football season, because my schedule was so

tight. I knew I didn’t have weekends available

to study, so I had to do it the first free moment

I found during the week. In the Spring, there

was more time to do things with friends, so

I’d often find myself having to study at the last

second. And since I can’t stand losing, if I got a

lousy grade, I had to work to get it up.”

Matthews says USC was an easy choice for

him. “They’d won a national championship,

and I knew I wanted to play with the best

players in the country. My older brother, Clay,

Jr., had been an All-American linebacker at

USC [who went on to play for the Cleveland

Browns and Atlanta Falcons]. But it was my

father who got me into engineering.”

Clay Matthews, Sr., was a linebacker with

the San Francisco 49ers during the 1950s.

“Although I never saw my father play, I’d always

been impressed by his standard of excellence,”

Matthews says. “Everything he did, he did with

integrity. My dad had a degree in industrial

engineering from Georgia Tech, and he always

told me there’s so much flexibility in what you

can do with an engineering degree. That made

a big impression on me.”

For Matthews, pursuing a degree in

engineering seemed the most normal thing in

the world. “I was lucky to have two teammates

who were engineering majors,” he says.

“Anthony Gibson (BSISE ’83) was in ISE with

me, and Fred Cornwell was in civil engineering.

We were the same age, we took a lot of classes

together, and we all felt that it was a great place

to start, even if we didn’t go into the field. I

really didn’t realize how unusual we were until

I turned pro. I haven’t come across many

engineering degree holders in the NFL.”

He put his training to good use. “Of

course, the main concept I’ve utilized

professionally has to be force equals mass times

acceleration,’” Matthews says. “But engineering

also taught me a lot of problem solving

techniques, which I used as a pro, and also

when I left football and got into construction.

I’d be using physics, math – all kinds of things

I thought I’d forgotten – while building

cabinets and laying things out. I love the sense

of completion you get when something’s

finished. That’s why I enjoyed my engineering

classes: there was always a definite answer. I

struggled more in my classes that relied on

abstract concepts, like English,” he admits.

Matthews may have worked hard to excel

in class and on the playing field, but he still

found time for his social life. He met his wife,

Kerry Kitchen Matthews (BS EXSC ’83) when

they were both sophomores. “I lived in Trojan

Hall, and Kerry lived next door in EVK,” he

says. “I ate at her dining hall a lot, and would

see her around.” They met on the way home

from the first football game of the year, against

Knoxville. “Two weeks later, we went on our

first date,” Matthews recalls. “I’d gotten back

from an away game at Minnesota at 11:30 at

night, and we went to a midnight showing of

Monty Python’s Life of Brian in Westwood.

“Kerry and I were serious about each other

from the start,” he says. “Four or five weeks

after we met, we starting talking about getting

married when we graduated. And we’re still

36 USC ENGINEER

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continued on next page

Bruce Matthews

Matthews in action on the field.

As a Class of ’42 School of Engineering

graduate, Elmer Kaprielian learned the kind

of electrical engineering that we all take for

granted today.

“It was about electricity. We learned about

motors and transformers and generators and

switches,” he says. It wasn’t about information

technology, biotechnology or nanotechnology.

“None of these things function if you don’t

have reliable and economic, commercial

electric power. It all amounts to zero, absolute

zero, when the lights go out.”

After a stint as a reserve officer in the Navy,

Kaprielian went to work in 1946 as an estimator

for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and retired 41

years later as senior vice president for Power

Generation and Transmission. He takes great

pride in the fact that during the 18 years he

managed the department, the lights stayed on.

California’s power problems in recent

years and the blackout last August over large

areas of the East Coast and the Midwest, are a

reminder that we can no longer take reliable

electric power for granted. Kaprielian suggests

that electric power should be on the agenda of

engineering schools.

“I’m just a bystander now who has never

lost interest in the thing that got me into

electrical engineering,” he says. When the State

of California began licensing engineers in the

late 1940’s, Kaprielian decided to get the

license, although it was not a requirement, and

he therefore holds license #342.

“I love engineering,” he says.

Elmer Kaprielian was not the first

Kaprielian to attend the School. His father,

Michael Kaprielian (BS ’13) graduated as an

engineer in 1913 when Engineering was part of

USC’s Physics department. His older brother

Roy Kaprielian (BSCH ’43) received a chemical

engineering degree. However, his son Douglas

Dean Kaprielian, got his USC degree in

business and finance.

Kaprielian says he has known all of the

School’s deans, including Zohrab Kaprielian to

whom he is not related.

“He was a good friend and I used to visit

him a couple of times a year. He got his first

degree in the Near East, in a part of the world

where being an Armenian wasn’t easy.

“I’m not the scholar that he was,” adds

Kaprielian. At USC, Kaprielian played in the

Trojan Band and lived in a dormitory a block

from the School. “Several of the happiest years

of my life were spent at USC.”

Elmer Kaprielian, BSEE ’42

USC ENGINEER 37

palumni rofile

together, with six great kids and another on the

way.” Today, Bruce, Kerry and their family live

in Sugarland, Texas.

Family plays a major role in Matthews’

life. “My brother Clay was five years older than

me,” he says. “Growing up, I liked being around

him. He was always my hero. Even though I

was taller and heavier than he was, I’d watch

how he prepared and worked out with the

Browns so I could pattern myself after him.

Then one day – there I am, playing in the NFL

against my brother’s team! I’d been a fan of the

Browns for five years, and part of me just

wanted to watch what Clay and his team were

doing. It was really hard for me to focus, those

first two years when the Oilers were playing the

Browns. I remember back in 1986, he beat me

and sacked the quarterback. I had to fake being

upset – because even though we were still try-

ing to win the game, I wanted to cheer him!”

Matthews’ sense of fair play and high per-

sonal standards were legendary throughout the

NFL, where he was held in high regard for his

work ethic, leadership and high level of play. “I

feel a real sense of responsibility when I do

stuff,” he says. “I want to do it right, and I do

whatever needs to be done. Though that does-

n’t keep me from thinking I could have done it

better. My dad taught me something I’ve never

forgotten: If you’re going to sign your name to

anything, make sure you do it right. That’s

something I’ve tried to do throughout my life.”

Back in the early 1980s, this same

approach to life, school and work endeared

Matthews to his engineering professors. “For

two decades now,” says Prof. Fleisher, “I’ve held

Bruce up as an example of the ideal

scholar/athlete when I talk to new generations

of engineering students. To me, Bruce was

more than an All-American athlete — he was

an All-American student as well.”This was one of the reasons why Dean C.

L. Max Nikias nominated Matthews for a 2003USC Alumni Merit Award, which he receivedlast March. “Talk about humbling!” Matthewssays. “There I was at the awards dinner, beingrecognized alongside a Marine Corps MajorGeneral who’d been a shuttle astronaut, awoman who’s an internationally acclaimedexpert on cancer and AIDS, and the chairman

of Walt Disney Motion Pictures. What anhonor! I’ve never felt I did anything thatspecial. I’ve just taken what God gave me, andused it as best I can.”

This modesty has been a hallmark of

Matthew’s entire career. “Sure, the attention,

applause and money are great,” he says, “but

in the end we all have to answer to God. I’d

like to think I’ve lived my life in a way that

honors Him.”

Matthews continued from page 36

Bruce Matthews and Coach John Robinsonat USC.

Elmer Kaprielian

Albert Devereux Griffin, Jr., is hardly your typical

engineer. At 80 years of age, he can be found body

surfing at Orange County beaches or kicking up

his heels at a Dixieland dance. Awhile back,

Griffin was thrown out of a parade in San Juan

Capistrano thanks to the scantily-clad “Lady

Godiva” who was riding in the back seat of his

electric-powered pedicycle, accompanied by “one

hundred year-old music” from Griffin’s portable

calliope.

Perhaps only someone with impeccable

engineering credentials could get away with such

colorful behavior. “My brother, Bill Griffin (BSCE

’50), also graduated from USC Engineering,” says

Griffin, “and our father, Al Sr., was a famous civil

engineer who invented the freeway. He designed

the very first freeway in the United States — the

Arroyo Seco, now known as the Pasadena

Freeway, which launched California as the

national leader in freeway development.”

“Dad’s first highway design of note was the

Traffic Circle in Long Beach,” Griffin adds.

“Because it was before its time, many people got

on it going in the wrong direction, and some were

killed or badly injured. My dad was threatened

with lawsuits many times. He also designed the

famous four-level intersection where the

Pasadena, Harbor, Hollywood and Santa Ana

freeways meet near downtown L.A. He created a

reverse cloverleaf design that didn’t take up as

much space as traditional intersections. Everyone

told him it would never work, but it still does. ”

Griffin recalls his days at USC with pleasure.

He was a transfer student from Los Angeles City

College, where he admits he was nearly flunking

out. “Once at USC, though, I really took my

engineering studies seriously, and quickly pulled

my grade average up to a B.” Following Griffin’s

first year at USC, he signed up for the U.S. Navy’s

V-12 training program, a collaboration with

universities across the U.S. that was designed to

produce well-trained, intelligent Naval surface

line officers for World War II. “I had to be a very

serious student,” Griffin says. “It was a demanding

course of study.”

In spite of the rigors of wartime education,

Griffin made sure he enjoyed a full undergraduate

experience at USC. “In my first year,” he says, “I

pledged the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. I

competed in swimming and in gymnastics, where

I performed on the still and flying rings, coming

up second in the all-city competition.”

“My most fond recollections of

USC Engineering are of Professor David

Wilson,” Griffin says. “He made difficult

engineering concepts easy for us to

understand. He was affectionately

patient with some of us, not proceeding

ahead until we understood what he had

presented up to that point. I stayed in touch

with him long after graduation, through his fall

and recovery, and for awhile I was a member of

the David Wilson Associates.”

Griffin is grateful for the opportunity to

study at USC. “To have attended USC and

graduated in difficult times, in a field recognized

to be challenging, gives me great pride,” he says.

“I often felt the envy of my colleagues who

graduated from less prestigious universities. I am

sure that my USC degree was a major reason I

was offered some of the fine jobs I have had.”

Upon graduating from USC, Griffin was

ordered to the Naval Officer Candidates School at

Camp Endicott in Rhode Island. Following that

training, he was commissioned as an Ensign in

the Civil Engineer Corps.

After the war, Griffin oversaw construction

of the South Laguna Sanitary District sewer

collection and disposal system, and did so well

that he was later named district manager. “But my

crowning achievement,” Griffin says, “was being

named facilities engineer for the Marine Corps

Air Station at El Toro. I held the highest general

service rank on base, and was also responsible for

Marine Corps bases at Camp Pendleton, Station

H in Tustin, and Yuma, Arizona.” Griffin retired

from this position 29 years ago.

Griffin has been married, divorced, and

raised four daughters. He has stayed active in

several of USC’s Orange County alumni organiza-

tions and occasionally takes trips with the Trojan

Travelers. He had a grand time at his 50th reunion

in 1995. “We had so much fun, reminiscing about

the past. Many of us were in the Navy’s V-12

program, and it was wonderful to be able to share

our stories. We’d definitely like to come back to

campus in 2005, to celebrate our 60th reunion!”

Through the years Griffin has made sure that

he stays in touch with the School of Engineering.

“Ted McConville (BSCE ’43) has been very good

about sponsoring the David Wilson Associates

events in Orange County each year. Lots of young

engineers attend, many of them ladies. I think

it’s great!”

Griffin is equally enthusiastic about his

numerous hobbies. “I was a lifeguard when I was

younger, and I love the ocean, so body surfing is a

real pleasure,” he says, adding modestly that “You

know, I’m not the only one from my era — my

good friend Arthur Beard (BSCE ’46) still board

surfs in San Clemente with his kids!”

Griffin’s other interests include the afore-

mentioned Dixieland dancing, singing and play-

ing the piano, organ and calliope. “After I retired,”

he explains, “I took a trip on the Mississippi

Queen and heard my first calliope. I fell in love

with the look and the sound, so when I got home

I bought a trailer-mounted calliope with key-

board and music roll. Then when I was at the

Embarcadero in San Francisco, I purchased a

pedicycle so I could tow the calliope, which

weighed a ton. I got a really good deal: the pedicy-

cle had been made in Bangkok and was designed

to carry Asian passengers. The American owner

could only fit in one Western passenger at a time,

so he sold it to me for only $300! I added an

electric wheel chair motor, so it would look like

I was pedaling even when I was taking it easy.”

Griffin would play his pedicycle-drawn

calliope at circuses, carnivals and parades near his

home town of Dana Point, treating audiences to a

grand repertoire of old-time tunes. He often

invited a shapely young bikini-clad beauty to ride

in the back seat of the pedicycle, dressed as Lady

Godiva in a long blonde wig. “We were the hit of

the parades,” he laughs, “especially when the wind

blew!” (Of course, the parade organizer from

San Juan Capistrano might differ with this

assessment.)

“I’m not your typical engineer,” Griffin

admits, “But I feel I am not boring. I enjoy

working with people, I’m active, and I have a

sense of humor. Perhaps I should have considered

a different career,” he muses, only half-seriously.

However, with his enthusiasm for USC and his

enduring good humor, Griffin provides a

delightful example of how much fun life can be

when you’re a USC Engineering alumnus.

Albert D. Griffin, Jr., BSCE ’45

palumni rofile

Griffin with his pedicycle-drawn calliope.

38 USC ENGINEER

S C H O O L O F E N G I N E E R I N G

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A

Leadership Gifts

Engineering AssociatesAnonymous (2)Mr. Gordon M. AndersonMr. & Mrs. Walter BabchukMr. James P. Beggans IIIMr. & Mrs. Bruce W.Bennett Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Nelson T. Bogart Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Gregg E. BrandowDr. George V. ChilingarMr. & Mrs. David ChonetteMr. & Mrs. Patrick L. Connelly Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth C.Dahlberg

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel J. Epstein Mr. & Mrs. T. Page Eskridge Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. EvansMr. James R. FeiMr. & Mrs. Charles P. FlanaganFulton (Robert) Foundation& Mrs. Sulie Fulton

Mr. & Mrs. Patrick R. FuscoeMr. & Mrs. Samuel H. Giesy

Gill (Merwyn C.) FoundationMr. & Mrs. James H. Gisbrecht Mr. Robert J. HoffmanHoffman (Walter W.)Family Trust

Mr. & Mrs. Roy G. JohnstonMr. & Mrs. Roderick M. JonesMr. & Mrs. Elmer F. KaprielianDr. & Mrs. Jerome H. KayDrs. Susan & Gregory KayMr. Lawrence Andrew KellerMr. Peter Y.S. Kim Mr. & Mrs. Eddie T. KishimotoMr. Kenneth R. KleinMr. & Mrs. C. Richard Knowles Mr. Jonathan T. KongMr. Lester C. KranholdMr. & Mrs. Robert LeeMs. Angela LianMr. Jeffrey W. LinLockhart (Frank J.) TrustMr. Gerald J. Lopopolo Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Philip R.MacDonald

Mrs. Lourita E. MacNeillDr. Florian B. MansfeldMr. & Mrs. Howard G.McAloney Jr.

Mr. John H. McCallMr. & Mrs. John D.McConaghy

Mr. & Mrs. Ralph L.McCormick

Dr. William J. MoffittMr. John MorkMr. Tony MorrealeMrs. Jennifer A. MowMr. & Mrs. Kenneth I.Mullen

Dr. Jack MunushianMr. Daniel R. NelsonMr. Mac PilonMr. Harold L. PotterMr. & Mrs. Clarence Quan

Mr. & Mrs. George M.Reppucci

Mr. & Mrs. F. EdwardReynolds Jr.

Mr. Robert J. RichardsDr. & Mrs. William N. RowleyMr. & Mrs. Al SchleicherDr. Robert J. Sclabassi Settle (Arthur G.) TrustMr. & Mrs. Edmund H. Shea Jr.Spitzer (Samuel J.) EstateMr. Timur TaluyMs. Dianna L. TetzMr. Mihailo D. TrifunacMr. & Mrs. Graham Tyson Mrs. Doris UncapherMrs. Lisa Van Ingen PopeMr. David A. WestDr. Charles H. WilcoxMr. & Mrs. Wendell WilsonMr. Mark William Wong

2002-2003

I N G R AT E F U L R E C O G N I T I O N O F O U R D O N O R S — P A S T A N D P R E S E N T

Mr. & Mrs. Charles J.Abronson

Mr. & Mrs. Dean K. AllenMrs. Doris J. AtteberryMrs. Beatrice E. BickfordMrs. R. Lucille BillingsMs. JoAnn M. BossMr. & Mrs. Robert N. BritzMr. & Mrs. Jack K. BryantMr. Glenn A. BustrumMr. & Mrs. Richard F. ChewMr. & Mrs. John V. CrowleyMr. & Mrs. John M. DoyleMr. Gerald D. DunnMr. Richard L. Farr

Mr. Joseph F. Foster& Hon. Juaneita Veron

Mr. & Mrs. Richard R. GreyMr. Rudolf W. GunnermanMr. & Mrs. Ernest H. HixMr. & Mrs. Richard HunsakerMr. & Mrs. Paul E. IaconoJordan (Julian) EstateMr. & Mrs. Jay L. KearMr. & Mrs. James J. KeenanMr. & Mrs. Donald H. KeltnerMr. & Mrs. Ronald A. KolarMr. & Mrs. Ronald L. LashMr. Anthony D. LazzaroMr. Marcus S. Luk

Dusanka MaletkovicMr. & Mrs. C. Larry McMillanMr. & Mrs. Eugene L. MleczkoMoore (Bernice C.) EstateProf. James E. Moore IIMr. & Mrs. Richard C. NelsonMr. & Mrs. Loren C. PhillipsDr. & Mrs. Hugo P. PomrehnMr. Theodore Posch Jr.Dr. & Mrs. Allen E. PuckettDr. Irving S. ReedMr. & Mrs. D. KennethRichardson

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas L.Rothwell

Mr. & Mrs. Jerry SandersScalise (George M. &Dorothea K.) Family Trust

Mr. & Mrs. John F. SheaMr. & Mrs. Scott R. ShoultsMr. & Mrs. Mark A. StevensDr. & Mrs. Marvin S. StoneMr. & Mrs. John E. TahlMr. & Mrs. Paul L. TraylorMr. Ronald N. TutorDr. & Mrs. Andrew J. ViterbiMr. & Mrs. John WakerlyMr. & Mrs. Emrick A. WebbDr. Peter S. WillcoxMr. Fred Zohouri

Past Associates

The USC School of Engineeringgratefully acknowledges thefollowing members of the Dean’sCircle/USC Associates for theirgifts made during fiscal yearJuly 1, 2002 throughJune 30, 2003.

New or continuing commitmentsfrom the following individuals infiscal year July 1, 2002 throughJune 30, 2003 place them in aspecial category of gifts “aboveand beyond” annual contribu-tions. Depending on pledge size,these commitments also bearmembership entitlements at theDean, Provost, and PresidentialAssociate levels.

Gifts were made in previous yearsat the Dean, Provost, andPresidential Associate levels bythe following individuals.

Anonymous (2)Mr. Gordon M. AndersonDr. George V. ChilingarMr. & Mrs. David ChonetteMr. & Mrs. Kenneth C.Dahlberg

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel J. EpsteinMr. & Mrs. T. Page Eskridge

Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. EvansFulton (Robert) Foundation& Mrs. Sulie Fulton

Mr. & Mrs. Samuel H. GiesyGill (Merwyn C.) FoundationMr. & Mrs. Roderick M. JonesDr. & Mrs. Jerome H. KayMr. Kenneth R. Klein

Ms. Angela LianLockhart (Frank J.) Trust Mr. & Mrs. Philip R.MacDonald

Mr. John H. McCallMr. & Mrs. Ralph L.McCormick

Mr. John Mork

Mr. Harold L. Potter Mr. & Mrs. F. EdwardReynolds Jr.

Settle (Arthur G.) Trust Spitzer (Samuel J.) EstateMr. Mihailo D. TrifunacMrs. Doris UncapherMr. & Mrs. Wendell Wilson

* WHILE EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF THIS INFORMATION, SOME NAMES MAY HAVE BEEN INADVERTENTLY OMITTED ORINCORRECTLY LISTED. PLEASE NOTIFY THE ENGINEERING OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS AT 213-740-2502 IF YOU NOTICE A DISCREPANCY IN YOUR LISTING.

Honor Roll

40 USC ENGINEER

s

,,

Dean’s Circle Dinnerand Concert at theHollywood BowlOver 40 of the School of Engineering’s alumni

and friends gathered on the Museum Patio of

the Hollywood Bowl for a private dinner with

Dean C. L. Max Nikias on Saturday, August 9.

The group of the School’s most consistent and

generous supporters then enjoyed an evening

under the stars with John Mauceri conducting

the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, special guests

Carol Channing and Michael Buble, and a

spectacular fireworks display.

ARCS NationalVisit DinnerDean Nikias hosted the national members of

the Achievement Rewards for College

Scientists Foundation (ARCS) on September

25 at an intimate dinner at the California Club

in Los Angeles. Judith Miller, national ARCS

president, along with sixty other members

attended the dinner and listened to remarks

presented by Dean Nikias entitled “Time for a

New Hollywood”. The ARCS National Board

meeting was held the next day at the

University of Southern California campus.

Weekender Receptionin San FranciscoOn Friday, September 26, the School of

Engineering hosted nearly 70 Northern

California alumni, parents and friends during

its annual Weekender reception. Held at the

Hyatt Regency San Francisco overlooking the

Embarcadero, the event attracted many from

the USC East Bay Alumni Club, members of

the USC Alumni Association and others

traveling for the USC v. Cal football game.

Dean Nikias was given a special introduction

by alumnus speaker Kenneth R. Klein (BSBME

’82), COO of Mercury Interactive Corp. and

member of the School’s Board of Councilors.

Susan and Lawrence A. Keller (BSAE ’91, MSAE ’92)at the pre-concert dinner.

Natalie and Ken Klein (BSBME ’82) and JamesBraze (BSME ’68) at the Weekender reception.

Judith Miller, ARCS National President (l) with formerARCS scholar Sally Jercha (BSChE ’00) and herhusband, Tony.

snapshotsUSC School of Engineering Events Late Summer & Fall 2003

snap hots

Dean C. L. Max Nikias Helps Dedicate New LibraryBuilt in Memory of C. H. ChoDean C. L. Max Nikias traveled to Inha University in Incheon, Korea on September 17 and 18 for

the dedication of the Jung Seok Memorial Library built in memory of Choong Hoon (C. H.) Cho,

late father of Y.H. Cho, member of both the USC Board of Trustees and the School of

Engineering’s Board of Councilors.

“It is the most advanced digital and multimedia library in Korea, and a wonderful tribute to a

great man,” says Nikias. “The six story building was designed by USC Trustee Gin D. Wong and

C.H. Cho was able to see the site and the design while he was still alive.”

During the dedication ceremony Nikias and Joseph Aoun, dean of the USC College of

Letters, Arts and Sciences, named C. H. Cho as the first honorary alumnus of both the College

and the Engineering school. They presented Y.H. Cho and his mother with a framed certificate

honoring his father for spawning Korea’s modern transportation industry and for his lifelong

support of higher education, engineering, research and Korean studies.

The two deans also attended the Inha-USC High Tech Conference, which focused on

information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The speakers included Nikias, who

gave an address on “The New Hollywood,” and Priya Vashishta, professor of materials science,

who described the use of high-performance

computing in nanotechnology research. Ken

Nealson, professor of earth sciences, spoke on

geobiology.

Chris Kyriakakis, associate professor of

electrical engineering and director of sensory

interfaces at the Integrated Media Systems

Center (IMSC), demonstrated IMSC’s Remote

Media Immersion (RMI) Internet technology

for capturing, streaming and rendering big

screen video and multi-channel audio.

Kyriakakis set up a complete RMI

technology package that is permanently located

on the fifth floor of the new library. It will be

used for joint trans-Pacific experiments

between Incheon and Los Angeles.

Alumni Receptionin ChicagoDean Nikias and other School of Engineering

leaders hosted several dozen alumni, parents

and friends at an alumni reception at the Hyatt

Regency in Chicago on Friday, October 17.

Also in attendance were members of the

Mid-west alumni club and other USC friends

traveling to the USC v. Notre Dame football

game. Dean Nikias was graciously introduced

by alumnus Chris Kittides (BSAE ’63, MSAE

’65), the president and CEO of BEI Associates,

Inc. in Detroit. The group followed the

reception with a Spirit of Troy pep rally also

at the Hyatt.

2003 HomecomingCelebrationOver 250 alumni and friends of the School of

Engineering celebrated their Trojan status at the

School’s 2003 Homecoming and Reunion

Picnic. The group joined thousands of other

Trojans for one of the most highly attended

homecoming celebrations in USC history.

Many of the School’s picnic guests were winners

of USC and Engineering products from

the raffle held to raise money for student

scholarships. The group then went on to cheer

the Trojans as they enjoyed a decisive victory

over Washington.

USC ENGINEER 41

s

Alumnus Doug Litchfield (BSCE ’80) and his family,wife Patrice and kids Cheryl and Jesse enjoyingHomecoming.

snap hots

Dean Nikias, Y. H. Cho, Cho family members and representatives from Inha University open theJung Seok Memorial Library.

Dean Nikias and Dean Joseph Aoun of LASpresent Y. H. Cho with an honorary alumnuscertificate in his father’s name.

ChevronTexaco and School Establish Center for Interactive SmartOilfield Technologies

42 USC ENGINEER

ssnap hots

The USC School of Engineering and

ChevronTexaco Corp. announced plans August

29 to establish a new center to develop

advanced technologies to improve oil and gas

exploration and production efficiency. Provost

Lloyd Armstrong Jr., Dean C. L. Max Nikias

and Don Paul, vice president and chief

technology officer at ChevronTexaco, signed a

memorandum of understanding outlining the

establishment of the Center of Interactive

Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft).

ChevronTexaco will provide R&D funding

to establish the center, which will draw upon

faculty expertise and resources within the

School’s Information Sciences Institute, the

Integrated Media System Center and the

Petroleum Engineering Program. CiSoft will

focus on the research and development of integrated technologies

targeted to the operations of instrumented, intelligent oil and gas fields.

ChevronTexaco employees will directly participate in the center’s R&D

program and the company will provide real-world drilling and

production data from oil and gas fields from around the world.

ChevronTexaco also plans to provide additional research investments

as expanded programs develop

within CiSoft.

“Through this partnership,

ChevronTexaco and USC hope to create

an exceptional learning environment for

engineering students, while accelerating

the development of advanced oil field

technologies in this area,” says Nikias.

In addition to research and

development, CiSoft will support a strong

educational component drawing top

graduates from across the world. Nikias

says the School will create a new master

of science degree program which uniquely

integrates information technology and

petroleum engineering.

“The USC School of Engineering is

recognized for leadership and innovation in many areas, but has earned

particular distinction for its work in information and communications

technology, advanced visualization and petroleum engineering. Adding

energy to the strong relationships the school has with the defense and

entertainment industries will make this a unique environment for

developing new technologies for real-time engineering and operations,”

says Paul.

CiSoft will form an integral component of ChevronTexaco’s i-field*

program, which is focused on the integration of field automation,

reservoir simulation technologies, new and emerging well technologies

and real-time reservoir management. Advances in i-field technologies

and enhanced workflows will help reduce field development costs, speed

up the analysis of information and enhance operational reliability.

CiSoft’s co-executive directors will be Mike Hauser, i-field program

manager at ChevronTexaco Exploration and

Production Technology Company, and Iraj

Ershaghi, professor of chemical engineering

and director of the Petroleum Engineering

Program.

CiSoft is the most recent center formed

as part of ChevronTexaco’s strategy to

develop unique, new research and

educational partnership structures between

the energy industry and universities. Last

year, ChevronTexaco joined with the

University of Tulsa to form the Center of

Research Excellence in production fluid

flow, which is conducting research in the

areas of flow assurance, specifically the

study of emulsions and multiphase flow,

dispersions and heavy-oil chemistry.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the school’s overall graduate

program eighth in the nation for the past two years and ranks the

Petroleum Engineering Program ninth.

Based in San Ramon, California, ChevronTexaco is the second-

largest U.S.-based energy company and the fifth largest in the world

based on market capitalization. More than 53,000 ChevronTexaco

employees work in approximately 180 countries around the world.

* i-field is a trademark of ChevronTexaco Corp.

Dean C. L. Max Nikias, Donald L. Paul and Provost Lloyd Armstrong signing the memo of understanding.

Nikias says the School

will create a new master

of science degree

program which uniquely

integrates information

technology and

petroleum engineering.

n

44 USC ENGINEER

class otes

1968James J. Braze (BSME) is an attorney in

the San Francisco office of Gordon & Rees

and is defending personal injury and wrong-

ful deaths arising out of product liability

claims and construction site accidents. Both

he and fellow alumnus Richard Grey(BSAE ’62, MSAE ’65, MSME ’71) are

planning to help form a Northern California

School of Engineering alumni club.

1985Frank Principe (MSSM) is currently

consulting for House for Urban Development

(HUD) on a new data management system

called MCB. He is also a part-time professor

for the University of Phoenix and Learning

Tree University. He resides in Mission Viejo,

California with his wife Nancy.

1987Bob DeFeo (MSCENG) has been appoint-

ed as Teranex’s new chief executive officer.

Prior to joining Teranex as president in April

2002, DeFeo served as president and execu-

tive VP of sales and marketing at Optibase.

David Jenn (Ph.D EE) was recently

promoted to full professor of electrical and

computer engineering at the Naval

Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

David’s research interests include microwave

antenna design, stealth technology,

microwave-powered autonomous unmanned

vehicles, and reducing wireless network vul-

nerabilities in support of Homeland Security.

John Ramirez (BSEE) and his wife Darlene

are proud to announce the birth of their son

John Ryan on February 24, 2003. John is the

owner of Digital Image Studios

1988Elaine Iba (MSEE) has put her U.S.

Skeleton National Team career on hold and

returned to work as the senior principle

systems engineer for Raytheon in Fullerton,

California. She will aid in the support of the

company’s Capability Maturity Model

Integration for the Network Centric Systems

division. Elaine hopes to return to

competition for the U.S. Skeleton National

Championships later this season. (See profile

on Elaine in the Spring 2003 USC Engineer)

1990Peter Sabido (BSCHE, MSENE ’95)

has earned his J.D. degree, magna cum laude,

from the Northwestern School of Law of

Lewis and Clark College. He is currently an

attorney at Kolish Hartwell in Portland,

Oregon.

1991Judith Redpath (BSAE), her husband

Steve Redpath and daughter Veronica,

happily announce the birth of Carlton Frank

on February 27, 2003.

1995David W. King II (BSISE, MSISE/MBA

’98) and wife Melissa are happy to announce

the birth of their daughter, Emma Lauren

King, on January 12, 2003.

1996Joyjeet “Bobby” Bhowmik (MSCECS)

and his wife Madhumita “Monty”, celebrate

the birth of their first daughter, Rituja, on

January 14, 2003. Joyjeet is a software

architect/scientist with Agilent Technologies.

1998Brian Karl Hiatt (BSCECS) was married

on August 8, 2002. Brian recently moved to

San Jose, California and is currently a

software engineer for IBM.

1999Omesh Piryani (MSEE) and Sadhna

Jaisinghani were married on April 13, 2003.

2000Marisela Avalos (BSBMME) returned to

school this fall at the University of California,

Berkeley where she was awarded a Graduate

Opportunity Award. Marisela is working

towards a masters degree in mechanical

engineering with an emphasis in design.

Sally A. Jercha (BSCHE) married Anthony

L. Jercha on April 26, 2003 at St. Rose’s

Catholic Church in Simi Valley, California.

2001William L. McGill (BSAE) was recently

named ASME Government Fellow for the

Department of Homeland Security.

Staff NewsBob Calverley was named executive

director of communications for the School in

October. Bob is also the managing editor of

USC Engineer.

Margaret Dufford was named senior

associate dean of administration for the

School on July 1, 2003. She was previously

the senior associate dean of administration at

the USC Marshall School of Business.

Kelly Goulis, executive director of the

School’s Distance Education Network, and her

husband Chris, are happy to announce the

birth of their daughter, Jiana, on July 18, 2003.

Anna Norville, the School’s executive

director of corporate relations, and her

notesKAlumni

newsSummer and Fall 2003

Board of Councilors NewsGregg Brandow (BSCE ’67) is the president of the board

for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in California

this year.

Ed Glasgow (MBA ’70) received a number of awards in

2003. He was selected as 2003 Engineer of the Year by the

San Fernando Valley Engineers’ Council; he received an award

at the 48th Anniversary Honors and Awards Gala Banquet at

the Sportsman Lodge in February. He was also selected for

Fellow grade of membership in the AIAA, receiving the

honor at the International Air and Space Symposium and

Exposition in Dayton, Ohio in July. That same month he was

selected to serve a three-year term on the scientific advisory

board for the National Institute of Aerospace. In September,

he received the SAE Aerospace Engineering Leadership Award

at the SAE Aerospace Congress and Exposition in Montreal.

Ken Klein (BSBME ’82) has been added to the Wind River

Systems Company Board of Directors. Wind River Systems is

the worldwide leader in embedded software and services.

Wind River provides market-specific embedded platforms that

integrate real-time operating systems, development tools and

technologies. Wind River’s products and professional services

are used in multiple markets, including aerospace and defense,

automotive, digital consumer, industrial, and network

infrastructure. Founded in 1981, Wind River is headquartered

in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide. Ken is also

the chief operating officer of Mercury Interactive Corp.

Regina Smith is happy to announce that she and her

husband Henry welcomed Eric Alexander Schaefer to the

world on April 11, 2003. He was 9 pounds 3 ounces. She also

has a book called DNA due out in fall 2004 and has been

named director at a new service called Bioinvestments.com.

The company provides the general public with background

information about pharmaceutical companies with pending

drug approvals, technical terms and drug programs.

Richard Miller joined Information Systems Laboratories

in San Diego. He is vice president and general manager of

the Technology Development & Manufacturing Group. The

company is privately held and primarily serves the DOD and

intelligence community, providing services ranging from

R&D, engineering, systems integration, testing and ISO-9001

certified manufacturing.

Laksen Sirimanne

In December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright created aviation

history with the first powered flight, soaring over Kitty Hawk,

North Carolina. One hundred years later, in July 2003,

Sri Lankan-born Laksen Sirimanne (MSAEAN ’03) and co-pilot

Assaf Stoler whizzed through those same skies, touching down

at First Flight Airport, Kill Devil Hills in a Diamond Star DA40.

In doing so, they etched their own names into aviation’s

history books.

Their flight, which originated at Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport

and lasted over 17 hours, set three aviation records for a plane

under 2,205 pounds,

including the world speed

record for a transcontinental

flight. Their average

speed—a blazing 137 miles

an hour—smashed the

previous record set in 2000

of 52 miles an hour.

“Everything on the flight went as planned,” says Sirimanne.

“We did a lot of preparation and took many test flights together

to understand the performance characteristics of the aircraft.”

They loaded engine performance data into Excel spreadsheets

and ran a number of computer models simulating ideal flight

conditions.

As if Sirimanne’s summer wasn’t busy enough, he managed to

complete a degree at USC just one month after this flight, having

taken classes through the Distance Education Network (DEN)

since the fall of 2000. He earned a master’s in aerospace

engineering with a concentration in astronautics. “I found the

course offerings very broad with a great choice of classes,” he

says. “USC definitely has some excellent professors who really

enjoy teaching and enjoy the subjects—a great mix of academic

teachers and industry professors.”

An Irvine resident, Sirimanne currently works at Edwards

Lifesciences, where he directs research on artificial heart valves.

He also has an application pending with NASA’s astronaut

program.

He says the importance of his flight is just beginning to sink in.

“The media attention was quite unexpected, and we have been

overwhelmed with the enthusiasm of friends, family, co-workers,

and the general public.”

He pauses, and then adds, “It still seems like a dream.”

Alumni Recognition

husband Michael Walsh, happily announce the birth of their first

child, daughter Cora Mary Virginia Walsh, on September 4, 2003.

Gaurav Sukhatme, associate professor of computer science,

and his wife Kalyani, joyfully announce the birth of their son,

Mihir Gaurav, on October 13, 2003.

Binh Tran has been promoted to director of instructional

technology for the Distance Education Network.

Please keep us informed of your personal and professionalprogress, as well as changes in your contact information byvisiting www.usc.edu/engineering and clicking on Alumni. Orby writing to the Alumni Relations Office at the USC School ofEngineering, Olin Hall 300, Los Angeles, California 90089-1454

nclass otes

USC ENGINEER 45

In MemoriamPaul E. Hood (BSCE ’49) passed away on February 19, 2003 in

Los Angeles. He served in World War II in the U.S Army 8th Air Force

Second Air Division, 93rd Bombardment Group, and flew 35 combat

missions as a right waist gunner in a B-24 Liberator — a four-engine

heavy bomber airplane that was said to fly

higher, faster and farther than any other plane in

World War II.

Upon returning from the war, Hood enrolled atUSC on the GI bill. In 1949, he joined the Stateof California Department of Water Resources inSacramento as an engineer, working on thestate’s water and dam projects for more than 34years until his retirement in 1983. He and hiscolleagues helped to create many of the

engineering marvels that have shaped the state and served the peopleof California for many decades, including the California Aqueduct,the Feather River Project and the Whale Rock Dam Project.

Hood grew up in a small Irish farming community in Clare, Iowa.After graduating from high school, he worked at the DonahoeGeneral Store, which was such a perfect example of mid-western lifethat the building was later moved and preserved at the Fort DodgeMuseum in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

In 1940, at the age of 19, Hood hitchhiked to California. One of his

first jobs was working as a flight dispatcher at Mines Field, now

known as Los Angeles International Airport. He then joined Donald

Douglas Aircraft, and was drafted into the military in 1943.

After training as an Army Air Corps Cadet, Hood was assigned to

gunnery school at Tyndall Field in Florida and was then shipped —

literally — to England aboard the Queen Mary, thanks to bad weather

that forced cancellation of his trans-Atlantic flight.

Hood and his 8th Air Force bomber crew flew dozens of successful

combat missions over Nazi Germany, until their unit was ordered to

stand down in May, 1945, when there were no enemy targets left in

Germany to attack from the air.

As soon as he was back in the U.S., Hood applied for admission to

USC, where he served as treasurer of the student chapter of the

American Society of Civil Engineers, and graduated in 1949.

According to Hood’s daughter, Julie Hood, “Attending USC changed

the direction of my father’s life. He could have gone into the booming

construction industry with his three brothers, or into an aviation-

related field after his service in the Air Force. But he found his

engineering classes at USC to

be challenging — even after

the challenges he faced during

World War II — and he decid-

ed to build a career with the

Department of Water

Resources. He also used his

engineering skills to design

and construct our family home

in Westchester.”

Hood was very proud to be a

USC graduate, and wore his USC ring every day of his life. He greatly

enjoyed participating in his 25th and 40th year reunions at USC.

“My father knew from his own experience the value of a good

education, which he emphasized to all eight of his children,” says Julie

Hood. “I guess he expected some defections to rival UCLA, and three

of my four brothers did go there. He would pontificate about the

superiority of USC and its football team to them at every opportunity,

and he kept a coffee mug on his desk at home, with the inscription,

‘My favorite team is USC and whatever team is playing UCLA.’ He

was very proud when I received a scholarship to USC.”

Hood was an active member of Visitation Catholic Church, a Fourth

Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, and a member of the

American Legion Post 177 in Venice, California. He spent several

years managing his sons’ Little League baseball teams. He was an avid

bowler, an enthusiastic precinct worker during local elections, and

enjoyed traveling throughout the world.

The School of Engineering is proud to call alumni like Paul Hood their

own. He epitomized the phrase “life-long Trojan”. His story, his spirit

and his many accomplishments are an inspiration to all USC alumni.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Martha; children Diane, Julie,

Tom, Paula, Marilyn, Phil, Joe and Jim; grandchildren William and

Jacob; sister Rosemary Shanahan; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Paul E. Hood

Scholarship Fund, c/o American Legion Venice Post #177, 6430

Firebrand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045.

Alumnus Nagui Mankaruse (MSME ’73), president of

Delta Engineers, was chosen to present at the IMAPS

Advanced Technology Workshop on Thermal Management

for High-Performance Computing and Wireless

Applications on October 22-24 in Palo Alto, California.

IMAPS is the largest symposium related to the microelec-

tronics and the electronic packaging industries in the

world. The workshop attracts presenters and attendees

are from the microelectronics industry as well as from

universities all over the world. This year’s conference

hosted a large gathering of technical experts and

intellectuals from the United States, Britain, Germany,

Austria, Italy, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan.

The presentation topics centered on new research and

development of products and processes in thermal

management and cooling for high-performance

computing and wireless applications for things like

consumer electronics, space and military equipment.

Mankaruse’s presentation was entitled “Thermal Cooling

of High Heat Flux Electronics Using Delta Engineers High

Performance Cold Plate”.

Alumni Recognition

n

46 USC ENGINEER

class otes

In MemoriamRobert Blumenthal (BSME ’50) was born in Santa Monica, California on January 23,

1923, and died in Beverly Hills on April 20, 2003. He is survived by his wife, Eloise; chil-

dren, Jan, Andy, Ellen, Karen, Steve and Tony; his adoring grandchildren, Annika, Marcus,

Brandon, Nastachia, Erynn, Jennie, Barbara, Amanda and James and many loving cousins.

Bob will be remembered for his sense of humor and his creative and artistic talents in all

mediums. He will also be remembered for his love of aviation, tennis, skiing and acting.

Robert C. Cooley (MSEE ’68) passed away on July 30. Born in Los Angeles to Donald

and Lois Cooley, he was a U.S. Navy veteran, earned a masters degree and Arch Circle

Award from USC and retired from Hughes Aircraft/SBRC as a program manager. Survived

by his wife Jennifer Cooley; daughters Jennifer and Sarah Francis, and granddaughter

Natalie Francis.

Charles R. Dippel (BSME ’49) of Saratoga, California, passed away on June 23 at the age

of 79. From 1962 until his retirement in 1986, he was employed at Westinghouse Electric

Company where he was the director of U.S. airforce programs. Charles is survived by his

wife Rose Marie; his sister Mary; sons Steve, Jim, and Wayne; daughters Susan and Elissa

and 13 grandchildren.

Ervin S. Dean (MSEE ’56), a longtime resident of Palo Alto, California, died on July 16

at the age of 79. After 8 years at Pacific Gas & Electric, Ervin transferred to the Sunnyvale

campus of Lockheed Martin where he served as an engineer and project manager for

nearly 35 years. Upon retirement, he became an active volunteer for many organizations,

friends and family. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Karen Strickler Dean; two

daughters, Pamela and Lucie; two sons, Nathan and Thomas and four grandchildren.

Thomas J. Foley was a member of the Trojan Football team, and was also a member of

The Newman Club. He was a very successful engineering contractor for 47 years. He also

served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 8th Air Force during World War II. As a B-17 pilot, he was

engaged in 35 missions. He was a valiant fighter against heart disease, cancer and other

physical ailments. He is survived by his beloved wife Elaine Foley, loving brother Dan

(Mary) Foley, Loretta and Bob Collins and many relatives and friends.

Wesley D. Gerber (BSEE ’59) died at the age of 71 on May 29 following a short battle

with cancer. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War and enjoyed a 29 year career

at Ford Aerospace in Newport Beach, California. He was a dedicated family man and is

survived by his wife Lois, two stepdaughters and a stepson; his son, four grandchildren and

two great grandchildren.

Donald G. Hardy (MAOM ’71) Cmdr., passed away in his sleep at home on April 8, 2003

at the age of 72. He worked as an engineer in the aerospace industry before starting his own

custom embroidery business. He is survived by his wife Judith, and her daughters Caryn

Gregory, Susan Freudenberg, Sharon and Collene Gregory. He is also survived by his first

wife Jean Hardy, and their children Susan Sneddon, Pamela Catalano, Lance Hardy and

Meredith Hardy, as well as by his sister Dorothy Kirchner, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.

Edward E. Johnson (BSME ’58) passed away on April 9, 2003 at the age of 71. He is

survived by his wife Sara Jo, his sons, and two sisters. He was a member of Phi Sigma

Kappa fraternity. Ed loved his years at USC and remained a loyal Trojan his entire life. His

career included positions at Beckman Instruments, Servonic Instruments, Bertea, and ACL

Technology.

William J. Miller (MSAE, MSME ’70) of Bridgman, Michigan passed away unexpectedly

on Sunday, April 20, 2003 at the age of 60. William served his country for 30 years in the

U.S. Army. He earned a bachelors of science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, West

Point and holds a masters from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. William is

survived by his wife Carolynn J. Ott, his children Michelle and John Brusard, his parents,

sibling, and grandchildren.

John W. Marshall (BSEE ’41) of Glendale,

California, former director of industrial relations

for the School passed away

at his home on February 26,

2003 at the age of 85.

Jack was born in

San Francisco and later

moved to Baltimore. After

graduating from Loyola

Blakefield High School, he

moved with his family to

Pasadena, California. Jack enrolled at USC and

graduated in 1941 with a bachelors in electrical

engineering. Upon graduation, he was one of very

few selected by General Electric Company to study

advanced electrical engineering courses in order to

pursue his career in electronics.

During World War II, Jack served in the Navy

directing the installation of radar systems on US

ships in the Pacific. He was also involved in the

atomic bomb experiments at the Bikini Atoll. After

his return from the war, he continued to work for

General Electric in various capacities.

Jack attended Loyola Law School and after

graduation in 1951, he successfully entered the

California Bar Association.

In 1968, Jack returned to USC as director of

industry relations for the School of Engineering.

Until he retired in 1986, he was the key contact

person to many major companies regarding

fundraising, student employment and other

activities. During his time at USC, Jack also

worked with many international students.

In addition to providing educational counseling,

he helped the students adapt to life in America.

Ram C. Mukherji (MSEE ’70, MSMgmt.Sc ’74) was

one of the students Jack assisted. “I was one of the

very fortunate people to meet Jack in September,

1968. He guided me through the US Immigration

process to obtain special permission to work in the

first year in the US, and he introduced me to the

company where I worked for 26 years prior to

retiring. He picked up my wife from LAX when she

came to join me here because I was not driving at

that time. He taught me how to drive and many,

many other things that have allowed me and my

family to flourish. Without Jack Marshall, the

Mukherji family would not have settled in this great

land. His impression lives with many others in this

country and as well as in many foreign lands”.

Jack is survived by his wife Bertha of fifty-eight

years, his brother and best friend Frank; children

John, Nancy and Laurie; and six grand children.

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USC ENGINEER 47

fdevelopment ocus

Following a successful career as a contrac-tor, Powell made provisions in his will for acharitable foundation that would carryforward his legacy of innovation andentrepreneurial spirit. For nearly 40 years,the La Jolla-based Charles Lee PowellFoundation has supported groundbreakingengineering programs at USC, Caltech,Stanford, and U.C. San Diego.

“The foundation’s directors identifieda select group of universities in Californiathat had quality engineering programs,”says Joel Holliday, president and chiefexecutive officer of the foundation.“Given the relatively modest size of thefoundation’s endowment, they felt it wouldbe best to limit the number of schools theyfund, in order to provide sustained supportfor leading-edge research and teaching inareas where it would make a difference.”

Since 1970, the foundation hasprovided more than $13 million in grantsto the USC School of Engineering, fundingthe Charles Lee Powell Hall of InformationSciences and Systems Engineering, theCharles Lee Powell Chair in ComputerEngineering, the Charles Lee Powell Chairin Electrical Engineering and ComputerScience and the Charles Lee PowellFoundation Photonics Industrial Laboratory.

“Thanks to the Charles Lee PowellFoundation’s generous support, the Schoolof Engineering is pushing the boundariesof research and teaching in fields that areof enormous importance to this nation andthe world as a whole,” says Dean C. L.Max Nikias.

“The core of our giving centers on‘bundle grants,” says Holliday. “Wefund exciting research, along with theequipment and graduate fellowships thatare required to sustain this work.” Hollidayhas been president and CEO of thefoundation since 1999. He succeeded thelate Herbert Kunzel (LAS ‘33, LLB ’34), aSan Diego trial and corporate attorney whoserved as the foundation’s chairman and

executive director since themid-1980s.

Although Powell laid thefoundation for his professionalcareer in Southern California, hehailed from storied Southern stock.He was born on the campus of theVirginia Military Institute in 1863,during the Civil War, and hismother was a second cousin ofGeneral Robert E. Lee. Powell wasthe youngest son in a family of 11children – a family that lost all itsland and assets during the war,before young Powell’s secondbirthday.

Powell’s entrepreneurial spirit andingenuity were evident from the start.When he was six, he paid for a sow byshucking corn for his grandfather’s hogs,and made money raising and selling theresulting piglets. He worked steadily at avariety of odd jobs throughout his youth,and by the time he was 18, he had saved

$158 (equivalent to $2,764 today).When he was 21, Powell received his

share of a small inheritance from hisfather’s estate. Jobless, he was living inKansas City at the time and wore foldednewspaper in his shoes because they hadso many holes. Nonetheless, he signed hisentire inheritance over to his mother —

just as each of his brothers had done.Perhaps it is true that good deeds do

not go unnoticed, for later that year Powellwas offered work supervising a streetpaving job in Neosha Falls, Kansas — thefirst of several construction projects hemanaged in that state. By 1893, he hadsaved the princely sum of $10,000,which he carefully carried with him on awestward-bound train to Los Angeles, tolaunch what soon became one of the mostsuccessful construction businesses inSouthern California.

In addition to landmark structures,Powell’s firm built one of the firstmodern sewerage systems in downtownLos Angeles, replacing the open redwoodsewer trenches that had served cityresidents. As a contractor, he was admiredfor implementing numerous worker safetymeasures in what were often dangerousunderground construction projects.

Powell died in 1959, at the age of 96,leaving the Charles Lee Powell Foundationto continue his legacy. “Mr. Powell clearlywas a man of great vision, compassion andentrepreneurial drive,” says ChristopherStoy, the School’s CEO of ExternalRelations. “We are grateful to him, and tothe foundation he created, for supportingexciting new frontiers of engineeringresearch and teaching at USC.”

Firm Foundations: Charles Lee Powell’s Generous Legacy

Charles Lee Powell was a pioneering, self-taught engineer who invented

and patented new methods for building concrete structures underground.

He is credited with building much of Los Angeles’ early infrastructure,

including the Second and Third Street Tunnels and the Angels Flight

funicular railway in the historic downtown Bunker Hill district.

Charles Lee Powell

By 1893, he had saved the

princely sum of $10,000, which

he carefully carried with him on

a westward-bound train to

Los Angeles, to launch what soon

became one of the most

successful construction business-

es in Southern California.

48 USC ENGINEER

HIRE THE NEXT GENERATION!HIRE THE NEXT GENERATION!Your degree got you this far.

See what the next generation of USC Engineers has to offer!

Put their abilities to work for you!

The USC Cooperative Education Program matches top-quality undergraduate

Engineers with employers offering degree-related work experience.

CO-OP IS DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDSOF INDUSTRY:

K Gain fresh ideas fromenthusiastic students

K Identify outstandingfuture employees

K Free for employers!

K Serves as a low-costtraining & developmentprogram

K Maintain ongoing

relationship with USC

For more information about Co-op and hiringoutstanding Trojan engineers, contact:

Engineering Career Services

213-740-4530 K engcs@usc.edu K fax: 213-740-8690

3650 S. McClintock AveOHE 106

Los Angeles, CA 90089www.usc.edu/engcs

The Cooperative Education

Program is the cornerstone of IBM’s

College recruiting process. I have

been associated with the Office of

Engineering Student Affairs at USC

since the mid-90s. The staff has

always provided a personal touch of

hospitality coupled with a strong

desire to give their students the best

possible industry experience. There

are many successful alumni from

USC’s Engineering School that have

joined IBM who participated in

our Co-op program. The strong

partnership between IBM and USC

is necessary to continue to attract top

talent to meet our industry’s needs.

JOIN US

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 20036:30PM Reception7:30PM Dinner

THE RITZ-CARLTON MARINA DEL REY

4375 Admiralty WayMarina Del Rey, California

Business AttireComplimentary Valet Parking

DESTINATION:THE FUTURETHE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING’S FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE

Please join Dean C.L. Max Nikias and other alumni, friends, parents and partners of the School of Engineering for a celebration to launch the School’s new fundraising initiative.

For more information on the Launch Celebration, please call the School of Engineering at 213 740 2502

JOIN US

Non-ProfitOrganizationUS Postage

PAIDUniversity of

SouthernCalifornia

School of EngineeringUniversity of Southern CaliforniaOlin Hall 300Los Angeles, CA 90089-1454